The study: Henrich Greve and Marc-David Seidel studied the role of first-mover advantage in determining which technologies get adopted and which do not. They tracked the sales history of two wide-body jets: the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. The researchers concluded that the DC-10’s one-year head start contributed to its greater success in the market despite the L-1011’s technical superiority. The DC-10 suffered from design flaws that led to multiple accidents but, nonetheless, was able to recover and keep selling.
A version of this article appeared in the June 2014 issue of Harvard Business Review.