Standards Battles and Design Dominance

12 important questions on Standards Battles and Design Dominance

What are two primary sources of increasing returns?

1. Learning effects
2. Network externalities

What are network externalities?

In markets the benefits of using a good increases if the number of users increases.

What are learning effects?

Firms gain money with the adopted technology which they invest in further development. Furthermore, firms accumulate experience with the technology and they find ways to use it more productively, so the more it is adopted the better it should become.
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Network externalitites also arise when complementary goods are important. What are complementary goods?


Additional goods and services that enable or enhance the value of another good. For example, the value of a video game console is directly related to the availability of complementary goods such as video games, peripheral devices, and services such as online gaming.

Why does increasing returns to adoption also imply that technology trajectories are characterized by path dependency? Meaning that relatively small historical events may have a great impact on the final outcome.


Though the technology’s quality and technical advantage undoubtedly influence its fate, other factors, unrelated to the technical superiority or inferiority, may also play important roles. For instance, timing may be crucial; early technology offerings may become so entrenched that subsequent technologies, even if considered to be technically superior, may be unable to gain a foothold in the market.

What is said by the term increasing returns?


When the rate of return (not just gross returns) from a product or process increases with the size of its installed base.

What are examples of advantages created by network externalities?

- With bigger installed base, more developers of complementary goods
- Number of users choose certain technology, developers of the technology can invest more in the product

What is a winner-takes-all market?

This winner takes it all markets are different than markets wherein multiple competitors can coexist. The best technology does not need to win, this requires a different strategy whereby managers need to shape the multiple dimensions of value that shape design selection.

What are the 6 buyer stages of the technology stand alone value?

- Purchase
- Delivery
- Use
- Supplements
- Maintenance
- Disposal

What are the 6 different utility levers of the technology stand alone value?

- Customer productivity
- Simplicity
- Convenience
- Risk
- Fun
- Image and environmental friendliness

What is the purpose of the stand alone value?

In this way managers can assess the value of its product. The values offered need to be considered with the cost. It is the ratio of benefits and costs which determines the value.

What are the 3 key values in order to value the technological product?

- Utility
- Installed base
- Complementary goods

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