Market Take-off in Systemic Industries - The Early Industry Life Cycle Stage in the Mobile Payment Industry

The present discussion paper investigates the market dynamics in the early phase of an in-dustry`s life cycle. The industry life cycle model is so widely accepted and its basic premises so taken for granted that it has become conventional wisdom in business. However, a num-ber of facets of the concept are still poorly understood mainly because of the lack of empiri-cal evidence. E. g., while it is widely recognized that firms in the initial stage of the life cycle exist under conditions of significant uncertainty and ambiguity, little is known about the fac-tors and processes that feed the establishment of a dominant design and that lead to sales take off and growth of the market...