In opposition to common sense, the first company to market with a brand new product rarely succeeds like companies that enter the market later, a new report in the Wall Street Journal explains.
Pioneering firms commonly die young because consumers aren’t ready to embrace their business models, according to authors Stanislav Dobrev, a professor at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, and Aleksios Gotsopoulos, a professor at Boston University School of Management. And since market forerunners lack predecessors to look to for guidance, the unprecedented decisions they make often end up fatal.
“If you have an idea for a new market, it’s extremely hard to pull off,” says Mr. Dobrev.