Abstract Firms may pursue higher generations of technology to grow sales, but the effectiveness of this strategy is undetermined, because technological changes often create disruptions to the firm and its competitive environment. Understanding the effectiveness of a firm’s generational technology advancement strategy requires an examination of the contextual factors pertaining to generational technological change. Using data from the global flat panel display industry, we find that although generational technology advancement dampens sales growth, this negative effect is negated by a longer tenure in the industry, a lower level of technological innovativeness, and a greater product overlap with competitors. We contribute to the literature by highlighting the differences between generational technology and other types of innovation, and underscoring the interdependence between a firm’s generational technology advancement strategy and contingencies favoring firm growth. We advise leading technology firms to prepare for particular problems resulting from technology advancement, and offer lagging firms a game plan.

中文翻译：

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代际技术进步与企业成长：平板显示器行业销售增长研究

摘要 公司可能会追求更高世代的技术来增加销售额，但这种策略的有效性尚未确定，因为技术变革往往会对公司及其竞争环境造成破坏。要了解公司世代技术进步战略的有效性，需要检查与世代技术变革有关的背景因素。使用全球平板显示行业的数据，我们发现虽然代际技术进步抑制了销售增长，但这种负面影响被行业更长的任期、更低的技术创新水平以及与竞争对手更大的产品重叠所抵消。我们通过强调代际技术与其他类型创新之间的差异来为文献做出贡献，并强调公司的世代技术进步战略与有利于公司增长的突发事件之间的相互依存关系。我们建议领先的技术公司为技术进步带来的特定问题做好准备，并为落后的公司提供游戏计划。