IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/stratm/v41y2020i3p499-529.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The nanoeconomics of firm‐level decision‐making and industry evolution: Evidence from 200 years of paper and pulp making

Author

Listed:
  • Juha‐Antti Lamberg
  • Mirva Peltoniemi

Abstract

Research Summary We explore the qualitative differences in entries and exits over time. Using qualitative and quantitative data on 96 firms over 200 years, we study industry evolution from the perspective of individual decision‐making situations. Our historical and statistical analyses reveal the vital role of technology investments in determining firm outcomes, and the technological, institutional and governance dynamics that lead firms to invest or to abstain. Our main theoretical and methodological contribution concerns the importance of the multiplicity of firm‐level rationalities and decisions as fundamentals in theorizing on industry evolution. Managerial Summary What determines firm outcomes in terms of acquisition, dissolution, and survival? This article answers this crucial question of strategy and elaborates on the extent to which the outcome is under top management control. Our findings highlight the importance of technology investments and we identify factors that make such investments possible and profitable. Our results emphasize that firms weighing options must assess the economic meaningfulness of generational technology investments which result in narrowing profit margins and intensifying competition. Another insight concerns the management of political risks. Long‐term fluctuations in regulation and foreign trade policy make it hazardous to optimize to the contemporary political regime. Skillful strategists invest in geographical and technological complexity, which in combination increase the chances of survival in rapidly changing political regimes.

Suggested Citation

  • Juha‐Antti Lamberg & Mirva Peltoniemi, 2020. "The nanoeconomics of firm‐level decision‐making and industry evolution: Evidence from 200 years of paper and pulp making," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 499-529, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:41:y:2020:i:3:p:499-529
    DOI: 10.1002/smj.3080
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3080
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/smj.3080?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ron A. Boschma & Rik Wenting, 2007. "The spatial evolution of the British automobile industry: Does location matter?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(2), pages 213-238, April.
    2. Barry L. Bayus & Rajshree Agarwal, 2007. "The Role of Pre-Entry Experience, Entry Timing, and Product Technology Strategies in Explaining Firm Survival," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(12), pages 1887-1902, December.
    3. Colombelli, Alessandra & Krafft, Jackie & Vivarelli, Marco, 2016. "To Be Born Is Not Enough: The Key Role of Innovative Startups," IZA Discussion Papers 9733, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Pao‐Lien Chen & Charles Williams & Rajshree Agarwal, 2012. "Growing pains: Pre‐entry experience and the challenge of transition to incumbency," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 252-276, March.
    5. Eero Vaara & Juha-Antti Lamberg, 2016. "Taking historical embeddedness seriously : Three historical approaches to advance strategy process and practice research," Post-Print hal-02276732, HAL.
    6. Ugur, Mehmet & Trushin, Eshref & Solomon, Edna, 2016. "Inverted-U relationship between R&D intensity and survival: Evidence on scale and complementarity effects in UK data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 1474-1492.
    7. Oliver E. Williamson, 2000. "The New Institutional Economics: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 595-613, September.
    8. Pål Børing, 2015. "The effects of firms’ R&D and innovation activities on their survival: a competing risks analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 1045-1069, November.
    9. Campbell, Terry II & Keys, Phyllis Y., 2002. "Corporate governance in South Korea: the chaebol experience," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 373-391, October.
    10. Ashish Arora & Michelle Gittelman & Sarah Kaplan & John Lynch & Will Mitchell & Nicolaj Siggelkow & Serguey Braguinsky & David A. Hounshell, 2016. "History and nanoeconomics in strategy and industry evolution research: Lessons from the Meiji-Era Japanese cotton spinning industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 45-65, January.
    11. Klepper, Steven, 1996. "Entry, Exit, Growth, and Innovation over the Product Life Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 562-583, June.
    12. Franco Malerba & Luigi Orsenigo, 2015. "The evolution of the pharmaceutical industry," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(5), pages 664-687, July.
    13. Cefis, Elena & Marsili, Orietta, 2012. "Going, going, gone. Exit forms and the innovative capabilities of firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 795-807.
    14. Dey, Oindrila & Banerjee, Swapnendu, 2014. "Incentives and status," MPRA Paper 58399, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Nathan Furr & Rahul Kapoor, 2018. "Capabilities, technologies, and firm exit during industry shakeout: Evidence from the global solar photovoltaic industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 33-61, January.
    16. Klepper, Steven, 1997. "Industry Life Cycles," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(1), pages 145-181.
    17. Ronald Klingebiel & John Joseph, 2016. "Entry timing and innovation strategy in feature phones," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 1002-1020, June.
    18. Cain, Louis P. & Haddock, David D., 2005. "Similar Economic Histories, Different Industrial Structures: Transatlantic Contrasts in the Evolution of Professional Sports Leagues," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(4), pages 1116-1147, December.
    19. Steven Klepper, 2002. "Firm Survival and the Evolution of Oligopoly," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(1), pages 37-61, Spring.
    20. Ann-Kristin Bergquist & Kristina S�derholm, 2015. "Transition to greener pulp: regulation, industry responses and path dependency," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(6), pages 862-884, September.
    21. Perez-Batres, Luis A. & Eden, Lorraine, 2008. "Is there a liability of localness? How emerging market firms respond to regulatory punctuations," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 232-251, September.
    22. Kathleen M. Eisenhardt & Jeffrey A. Martin, 2000. "Dynamic capabilities: what are they?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(10‐11), pages 1105-1121, October.
    23. Eero Vaara & Juha-Antti Lamberg, 2016. "Taking historical embeddedness seriously : Three historical approaches to advance strategy process and practice research," Post-Print hal-02313404, HAL.
    24. Balagopal Vissa & Henrich R. Greve & Wei-Ru Chen, 2010. "Business Group Affiliation and Firm Search Behavior in India: Responsiveness and Focus of Attention," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 696-712, June.
    25. Franco Malerba & Richard Nelson & Luigi Orsenigo & Sidney Winter, 2008. "Vertical integration and disintegration of computer firms: a history-friendly model of the coevolution of the computer and semiconductor industries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(2), pages 197-231, April.
    26. Kang, Jun-Koo & Lee, Inmoo & Na, Hyun Seung, 2010. "Economic shock, owner-manager incentives, and corporate restructuring: Evidence from the financial crisis in Korea," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 333-351, June.
    27. Olivier Butzbach, 2018. "From data problems to questions about sources: elements towards an institutional analysis of population-level organisational change. The case of British building societies, 1845–1980," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(5), pages 754-777, July.
    28. Tarun Khanna & Krishna Palepu, 1999. "Policy Shocks, Market Intermediaries, and Corporate Strategy: The Evolution of Business Groups in Chile and India," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 271-310, June.
    29. Sahaym, Arvin & Howard, Michael D. & Basu, Sandip & Boeker, Warren, 2016. "The parent's legacy: Firm founders and technological choice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2624-2633.
    30. Daphne W. Yiu & Yuan Lu & Garry D. Bruton & Robert E. Hoskisson, 2007. "Business Groups: An Integrated Model to Focus Future Research," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 1551-1579, December.
    31. Byun, Hae-Young & Choi, Sunhwa & Hwang, Lee-Seok & Kim, Robert G., 2013. "Business group affiliation, ownership structure, and the cost of debt," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 311-331.
    32. Dobrev, Stanislav D, 1999. "The Dynamics of the Bulgarian Newspaper Industry in a Period of Transition: Organizational Adaptation, Structural Inertia and Political Change," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 8(3), pages 573-605, September.
    33. Annetta Fortune & Will Mitchell, 2012. "Unpacking Firm Exit at the Firm and Industry Levels: The Adaptation and Selection of Firm Capabilities," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(7), pages 794-819, July.
    34. Banerjee, Shantanu & Homroy, Swarnodeep, 2018. "Managerial incentives and strategic choices of firms with different ownership structures," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 314-330.
    35. Michael G. Jacobides, 2007. "The Inherent Limits of Organizational Structure and the Unfulfilled Role of Hierarchy: Lessons from a Near-War," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 455-477, June.
    36. Cefis, Elena & Marsili, Orietta, 2006. "Survivor: The role of innovation in firms' survival," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 626-641, June.
    37. Agarwal, Rajshree, 1996. "Technological activity and survival of firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 101-108, July.
    38. Nicholas Argyres & Lyda Bigelow, 2007. "Does Transaction Misalignment Matter for Firm Survival at All Stages of the Industry Life Cycle?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(8), pages 1332-1344, August.
    39. Jensen-Eriksen, Niklas & Ojala, Jari, 2015. "Tackling Market Failure or Building a Cartel? Creation of an Investment Regulation System in Finnish Forest Industries," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 521-555, September.
    40. Weiting Zheng & Kulwant Singh & Will Mitchell, 2015. "Buffering and enabling: The impact of interlocking political ties on firm survival and sales growth," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(11), pages 1615-1636, November.
    41. Constance E. Helfat & Margaret A. Peteraf, 2003. "The dynamic resource‐based view: capability lifecycles," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(10), pages 997-1010, October.
    42. Steven Klepper & Kenneth L. Simons, 2000. "Dominance by birthright: entry of prior radio producers and competitive ramifications in the U.S. television receiver industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(10‐11), pages 997-1016, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nathan R. Furr, 2019. "Product Adaptation During New Industry Emergence: The Role of Start-Up Team Preentry Experience," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(5), pages 1076-1096, September.
    2. Nicholas S. Argyres & Alfredo De Massis & Nicolai J. Foss & Federico Frattini & Geoffrey Jones & Brian S. Silverman, 2020. "History‐informed strategy research: The promise of history and historical research methods in advancing strategy scholarship," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 343-368, March.
    3. Cefis, Elena & Marsili, Orietta, 2012. "Going, going, gone. Exit forms and the innovative capabilities of firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 795-807.
    4. Rui Baptista & Murat Karaöz & João Correia Leitão, 2020. "Diversification by young, small firms: the role of pre-entry resources and entry mistakes," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 103-122, June.
    5. Guido Buenstorf, 2008. "Comparative Industrial Evolution and the Quest for an Evolutionary Theory of Market Dynamics," Chapters, in: Hardy Hanappi & Wolfram Elsner (ed.), Advances in Evolutionary Institutional Economics, chapter 3, pages 59-78, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Thomas Grebel, 2011. "Innovation and Health," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14375.
    7. Ugur, Mehment & Vivarelli, Marco, 2020. "The role of innovation in industrial dynamics and productivity growth: a survey of the literature," GLO Discussion Paper Series 648, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Lihong Qian & Rajshree Agarwal & Glenn Hoetker, 2012. "Configuration of Value Chain Activities: The Effect of Pre-Entry Capabilities, Transaction Hazards, and Industry Evolution on Decisions to Internalize," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(5), pages 1330-1349, October.
    9. Zhang, Dongyang & Zhuge, Liqun & Freeman, Richard B., 2020. "Firm dynamics of hi-tech start-ups: Does innovation matter?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    10. Rahul Kapoor, 2013. "Persistence of Integration in the Face of Specialization: How Firms Navigated the Winds of Disintegration and Shaped the Architecture of the Semiconductor Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1195-1213, August.
    11. Falk, Martin, 2013. "A survival analysis of ski lift companies," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 377-390.
    12. Guido Buenstorf, 2007. "Evolution on the Shoulders of Giants: Entrepreneurship and Firm Survival in the German Laser Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 30(3), pages 179-202, May.
    13. Elena Cefis & Franco Malerba & Orietta Marsili & Luigi Orsenigo, 2021. "Time to exit: “revolving door effect” or “Schumpeterian gale of creative destruction”?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(5), pages 1465-1494, November.
    14. Gang, KwangWook, 2018. "The impact of pre-entry experiences on entry decisions and firm survival," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 249-258.
    15. Zhao Rong & David C. Broadstock & Yuanyuan Peng, 2018. "Initial submarket positioning and firm survival: evidence from the British automobile industry, 1895–1970," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 965-993, December.
    16. Camerani, Roberto & Corrocher, Nicoletta & Fontana, Roberto, 2020. "It's never too late (to enter)… till it is! Firms’ entry and exit in the digital audio player industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    17. Hyytinen, Ari & Pajarinen, Mika & Rouvinen, Petri, 2015. "Does innovativeness reduce startup survival rates?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 564-581.
    18. Mehmet Ugur & Marco Vivarelli, 2021. "Innovation, firm survival and productivity: the state of the art," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5), pages 433-467, July.
    19. Megan Lawrence, 2018. "Taking Stock of the Ability to Change: The Effect of Prior Experience," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 489-506, June.
    20. Ortiz-Villajos, José M. & Sotoca, Sonia, 2018. "Innovation and business survival: A long-term approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1418-1436.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:41:y:2020:i:3:p:499-529. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/0143-2095 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.