The Coevolution of Technologies and Categories During Industry Emergence

• Published in: The Academy of Management review 2015-07, Vol.40 (3), p.423-445
• Main Authors: Grodal, Stine, Gotsopoulos, Aleksios, Suarez, Fernando F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Convergence; Design; Industry; Management science; Organization theory; Organizational behaviour; Stakeholder; Studies; Technology
• ISSN: 0363-7425; 1930-3807
• DOI: 10.5465/amr.2013.0359

Scholars have long studied technology evolution. More recently, organizational theorists have begun to explore the role of categories and their associated labels in industry dynamics. Yet little is known about how technological designs and categories coevolve. We build on these two bodies of literature to develop an integrative model of how industries emerge and evolve. We propose that the evolution of both technological designs and categories follows a similar pattern, characterized by an early period of divergence followed by a period of convergence, and we identify the mechanisms that account for this coevolutionary process. We add to the literature on technological evolution by explicating the mechanisms through which designs evolve and identifying how different stakeholders' categorical understandings shape design competition. Our model also augments the categorization literature by detailing categorical evolution as a contested process of category creation and selection, which, in turn, is influenced by the designs that the categories are trying to group. Our model creates a much needed bridge between two bodies of literature that, while addressing similar topics, have evolved largely separately.