INVENTOR MOBILITY OVER THE INDUSTRY LIFE-CYCLE:

Firms from the United States (U.S) were the original innovators of the television at the end of the 19th century. They were able to capitalize on their technological advantage and grow to be the leading innovators and producers of television sets till the 1960s. This changed with the entrance of foreign firms, namely the Japanese firms, who competed and eventually overtook U.S firms as leading innovators and producers by the 1970s. Today, U.S manufacturers of televisions are almost non-existent and largely irrelevant in a global context. This research paper utilizes the concepts of Vernon’s (1966) product life-cycle model and theories from the field of inventor mobility to explore this phenomenon of lost technological dominance. So as to provide a better understanding of firm characteristics and industry dynamics that led to the decline of the original innovators of the television. The main findings of this paper show that inventor mobility is, higher for firms in the television industry when compared to firms of more “mature” industries. In addition, his paper will further explore firm characteristics and the effects it has on inventor mobility.