M5-Strategy-S6 - Summary Teece - Dominant design paradigm

1. Preparadigmatic stage
   1. Early stages of industry development, product designs are fluid, manufacturing processes are loosely and adaptively organized, and generalized capital is used in production. Competition amongst firms manifests itself in competition amongst designs, which are markedly different from each other.
2. Paradigmatic stage
   1. Competition shifts away from design and towards price.

Also see the Abernathy-Utterback framework. The existence of a dominant design is of great significance to the distribution of profits its between innovator and follower. The innovator may have been responsible for the fundamental scientific breakthroughs as well as the basic design of the new product. However, if imitation is relatively easy, imitators may enter the fray, modifying the product in important ways, yet relying on the fundamental designs pioneered by the innovator.