MANAGING QUALITY AND NETWORK EFFECTS IN THE HIGH-TECH MARKET: THE CASE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TOOLS IN LIFE SCIENCE INDUSTRY

We seek to extend current theory on research and development (R&D) tools and create new insights by adopting a multi-disciplinary approach and drawing from literatures on quality and network effects in the high-tech market. More specifically, we use a unified framework on quality and network effects, and examine two forms of quality effects (third party quality reviews and company-advertised quality) and two types of network effects (network externalities effect and social network effect) in driving the popularity and success of R&D tools. By tracking two categories of R&D tools in the life science industry for a decade, our research provides a sharper understanding of R&D tools and therefore can help R&D tool producers to accelerate the market acceptance of their new tools, which should promote faster innovation and ultimately benefit the whole R&D community.