Research proposal: Industry convergence - Driving forces, factors and consequences
Weaver, Benjamin LU
(2007)
19th Business Administration Conference (NFF), 2007
p.1-20
- Abstract
- Industry convergence – the merger of hitherto separate industries – is a phenomenon that has had a profound effect on several industries and received considerable interest among practitioners and business press over the past decades. Despite this, industry con- vergence has only received limited attention from the academic management field, al- though an emergent discussion on convergence can be identified. Prior research is limited by a lack of coherent theoretical definitions of convergence, and a tendency to focus on technological aspects rather than on consequences for industry structure and individ- ual firms. Moreover, there is lack of empirical work in actual convergent industry set- tings. This research proposal reviews some of the... (More)
- Industry convergence – the merger of hitherto separate industries – is a phenomenon that has had a profound effect on several industries and received considerable interest among practitioners and business press over the past decades. Despite this, industry con- vergence has only received limited attention from the academic management field, al- though an emergent discussion on convergence can be identified. Prior research is limited by a lack of coherent theoretical definitions of convergence, and a tendency to focus on technological aspects rather than on consequences for industry structure and individ- ual firms. Moreover, there is lack of empirical work in actual convergent industry set- tings. This research proposal reviews some of the literature on convergence to date, in order to develop a theoretical framework of industry convergence that takes drivers, types and consequences on industry and firm level into account. The preliminary frame- work positions industry convergence as being conceptually and causally distinct from technology convergence, although the two are often intrinsically linked. Industry con- vergence is defined as a process whereby two or more industries – made up of producers of substitute products – converge over time, and where the outcome is uncertain with many alternatives. Two main types of industry convergence are proposed, convergence in substitutes and convergence in complements. With a view to increase the understanding of industry convergence, the preliminary theoretical framework will be applied in a longitudinal case study of the electronic security industry. This sector is currently converging with the IT industry, a process mainly driven by the pervasiveness of Internet Protocol (IP) networking technology, that allows the integration of a number of previously separate security and information systems. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1578595
- author
- Weaver, Benjamin
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2007
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- security industry, convergence, industry convergence, technology, in- dustry structure, strategy, technology convergence
- pages
- 20 pages
- conference name
- 19th Business Administration Conference (NFF), 2007
- conference location
- Bergen, Norway
- conference dates
- 2007-08-09 - 2007-08-11
- project
- LUSAX - Security Industry Dynamics
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f0ee977b-b88c-4013-a771-2cb699719436 (old id 1578595)
- alternative location
- http://www.nhh.no/Files/Filer/institutter/for/conferences/nff/papers/weaver.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 14:12:22
- date last changed
- 2021-03-30 09:32:44
@misc{f0ee977b-b88c-4013-a771-2cb699719436,
abstract = {{Industry convergence – the merger of hitherto separate industries – is a phenomenon that has had a profound effect on several industries and received considerable interest among practitioners and business press over the past decades. Despite this, industry con- vergence has only received limited attention from the academic management field, al- though an emergent discussion on convergence can be identified. Prior research is limited by a lack of coherent theoretical definitions of convergence, and a tendency to focus on technological aspects rather than on consequences for industry structure and individ- ual firms. Moreover, there is lack of empirical work in actual convergent industry set- tings. This research proposal reviews some of the literature on convergence to date, in order to develop a theoretical framework of industry convergence that takes drivers, types and consequences on industry and firm level into account. The preliminary frame- work positions industry convergence as being conceptually and causally distinct from technology convergence, although the two are often intrinsically linked. Industry con- vergence is defined as a process whereby two or more industries – made up of producers of substitute products – converge over time, and where the outcome is uncertain with many alternatives. Two main types of industry convergence are proposed, convergence in substitutes and convergence in complements. With a view to increase the understanding of industry convergence, the preliminary theoretical framework will be applied in a longitudinal case study of the electronic security industry. This sector is currently converging with the IT industry, a process mainly driven by the pervasiveness of Internet Protocol (IP) networking technology, that allows the integration of a number of previously separate security and information systems.}},
author = {{Weaver, Benjamin}},
keywords = {{security industry; convergence; industry convergence; technology; in- dustry structure; strategy; technology convergence}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{1--20}},
title = {{Research proposal: Industry convergence - Driving forces, factors and consequences}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/6305586/1578598.pdf}},
year = {{2007}},
}