CONTEXTUAL AND TACTICAL CHANGES IN STANDARDS WARS: WHAT CONSEQUENCES FOR "WINNERS"?

Over the last decades, battles for technological dominance between competing technologies have had a significant impact on many industries. In this paper, we investigate how the fast-moving technology environment influences the tactical choices of companies trying to establish their products as de facto standards. We analyze contextual changes in the evolution of standards wars using a literature survey supported by three integrated case studies. We develop the portfolio of tactics that competing companies should apply in the management of emerging standards wars, composed both of traditional and new deployment tactics. We demonstrate that contextual and tactical changes heighten the pressures on timing and the competition exposure in today's standards competitions. As a consequence, it becomes more difficult for an alleged "winner" to "take all" in the marketplace.