The emergence of dominant design in the early automotive industry: an historical analysis of Ford’s technological experimentation from 1896 to 1906

ABSTRACT

Technological discontinuities and dominant design models are among the most heavily researched topics in the strategy and innovation literature. In this paper, we attempt to illuminate the process of technological progress in the automotive industry, one of the most important contemporary industries. Drawing from a unique and archival database, we offer a comprehensive historical analysis of Ford from 1896 to 1906. Specifically, our study shows that an important catalyst for the emergence of internal combustion engine (ICE) technology as the dominant design in the early automobile industry was Ford’s technological experimentation. Accordingly, we provide theoretical contributions to the dominant design literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Dominant design
• Ford Motor Company
• automotive industry
• experimentation

Acknowledgments

The authors are in debt of gratitude to reviewers and participants at the 2019 Annual meeting of Academy of Management in Boston for offering constructive feedbacks. On that occasion this work has been also granted as best paper from Management History division of AoM. Moreover, we are thankful to Andrew Adcroft, Anna Cabigiosu, Elisa Giuliani, Colin Haslam, Gianvito Lanzolla, and Francesco Rullani for their helpful suggestions in earlier versions of this work. All flaws remain ours.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Giulio Ferrigno

Giulio Ferrigno is an assistant professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan (Italy). He was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa. He received his PhD in Economics and Management from the University of Catania. He has held visiting positions at Tilburg University and University of Umea. He has been granted for the Outstanding Reviewer award of AOM’s STR Division (two times), the JMS and SMS Doctoral Workshop Scholarship. He has published in the International Journal of Management Reviews, Small Business Economics, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, R&D Management, and Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing. He also authored 2 books. His research interests include strategic alliances, open innovation, and innovation management.

Alberto Zordan

Alberto Zordan graduated cum Laude in Innovation Management, a joint degree between the University of Trento and the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa (Italy). He spent a research period at the Benson Ford Research Center (Dearborn, Michigan) which resulted in its dissertation titled ‘A Century of Technology Battles and New Dominant Designs in the Automotive Industry: Tesla and Ford case studies’. He is currently a Marketing Analysis Specialist of Ferrari. His research interests include innovation management, technology cycles, market adoption models and automotive industry.

Alberto Di Minin

Alberto Di Minin is a Full Professor of Innovation Management and Innovation Policy at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy, Research Fellow with the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE), University of California – Berkeley, and Social Innovation Fellow with the Meridian International Center of Washington, DC. His research deals with Open Innovation, appropriation of innovation, and science and technology policy, technology transfer, intellectual property, and R&D management. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of R&D Management. His works appeared in premier international journals such as Research Policy, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of International Business Studies, R&D Management, California Management Review, Small Business Economics, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and Technology Analysis and Strategic Management.