Technological trajectories and industry evolution : the case of telecom switching industry

The contribution of this thesis is twofold; first, to provide an in depth case study of the telecom switching industry with a specific focus on how technological discontinuities have affected and shaped the industry. Second, to propose a method for detecting technological ruptures in a patent citations network. The thesis encompasses three parts. The first part introduces the history of the technology and the history (and dynamics) of the industry. The second part is based on the recent literature about the mapping of technological trajectories; the emergence of different technological trajectories is analyzed using patent data and network analysis. The final part moves to a different level of analysis looking at firms active in the industry. A unique panel database of market shares in different market segments, financial data and "contextual" data (i.e. OECD liberalization index and data about domestic market) is used to investigate the determinants of firm success.