Abstract
Let’s take time out to discuss the famous VCR incident. An early U.S. producer (Ampex) had dominated the industrial market for videocassette recorders. This market included TV networks, movie studios and professional producers of video programming. Ampex did not assault the mass market of VCRs for consumer households. Japanese companies did, with well-known results — namely that there are no longer any U.S. producers of household VCRs.
“The nice thing standards is that there are so many to choose from.”
Andy Tannenbaum
“Things are the way they are because they got that way.”
Kenneth Boulding
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Notes
For an overview of the VCR history look at Rosenbloom and Cusumano (1987) The Technological Pioneering and Competitive Advantage: The Birth of the VCR. California Management Review Summer 29:51–76. The thrust to mass market is covered in Marlow E and E Secunda (1991) Shifting Time and Space. Praeger Publishers. The standards (VHS vs. Beta) issue is addressed in Cusumano M A and Y Mylonadis et al (1992) Strategic maneuvering and mass-market dynamics: The triumph of VHS over Beta. Business History Review Spring 66: 51–94.
Japan now leads in wireless Internet standards; see Schmit J (2000) Japan Pioneers Brave New World of Wireless: Nation sets standard for how people use Net on cellphones. USA Today (July 7 ) B1
Standards strategies. “Sun continues its effort to nominate its Java language as a standard.” Read the article at http://cwlive.cw.com:8080/home/online9697.nsf/AII/970923sun1841E.
Phillips H (1997) Worldwide Standards and Trade: The Players and Their Networks. ( Used with permission )
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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Phillips, F.Y. (2001). Escaping the Niche Market; Moving to the Mass Market. In: Market-Oriented Technology Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-08500-4_10
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