Changing Sources of Competitive Advantage : Cognition and Path Dependence in the Finnish Retail Industry 1945-1995

In this study, we analyze the Finnish retail industry in 1945-1995. Triangulating the major developments in society, technology, and firm-level strategic choices, we identified extensive variation in the sources of competitive advantage over time. We found that the structural and cognitive-cultural dimensions of firms that offered opportunities for success in some specific historical situations turned to be disadvantageous in other situations. We propose a research framework that parcels managerial cognition into the elements of structure, ideology, and systemic and technical properties of the firm. Especially the notion of ideology is novel in the context of path dependence and cognition