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Changing competitive dynamics in network industries: An exploration of sun microsystems' open systems strategy
Author(s) -
Garud Raghu,
Kumaraswamy Arun
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
strategic management journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 11.035
H-Index - 286
eISSN - 1097-0266
pISSN - 0143-2095
DOI - 10.1002/smj.4250140504
Subject(s) - network effect , competition (biology) , industrial organization , externality , microsystem , workstation , business , open system (computing) , economics , computer science , microeconomics , ecology , materials science , biology , nanotechnology , operating system , software , programming language
An integral part of competition is to deny rivals access to proprietary technical knowledge. Yet, Sun Microsystems provides rivals easy access to its technical knowledge and encourages them to enter its workstation market. This paper employs theoretical insights on technological systems and network externalities to understand Sun's open systems strategy. The paper also explores the changing nature of competition in network industries–industries characterized by network externalities and built around technological systems.