Generational technological change, organisational search, and firm product innovation performance in new generational markets

By integrating the evolutionary perspective and the behavioural theory of the firm, this study draws on the generational technological change (GTC) and organisational search (OS) literatures and explores how problemistic and slack search, local and non-local search, search timing, and cumulative search experience of incumbent firms and new entrants lead to firm product innovation performance in new generational markets. Several distinctive features of GTC are discussed, including incremental and non-drastic innovation, co-existence of generations, and necessity for significant managerial attention and financial investment. With an in-depth investigation on the mobile phone manufacturing industry, particularly focusing on the Chinese mobile phone manufacturing industry, this study sheds light on irreversible evolutionary dynamics and GTC for incumbent firms and new entrants, OS for new generational technological knowledge, and their effects on product innovation performance in the new generation.