Whatever Happened To First Mover Advantage?

from the that-and-other-myths-of-the-new-economy dept

Doesn't the idea of "first mover advantage" seem silly now? So why is it that so many people were so totally convince that the concept meant everything to a successful business just a few years ago? The Economist is reviewing a book that looks at the real economics of the internet world called Re-Thinking the Network Economy. The book apparently pays particular attention to the fallacy of the first mover advantage. The author (an economics professor named Stan Liebowitz) tries to disprove the idea of "lock-in" by explaining different types of lock-in and pointing out that the kind most people thought they were talking about doesn't seem to exist. Sounds like an interesting book.