First mover, Fast Second or Later Mover in Platform Industries? An Integrated Model of Entry Timing Advantages

Strategy scholars have long investigated entry timing advantages, in particular the mechanisms, environmental conditions and firm-level resources and capabilities that are associated with the success of early and late entrant competitors. Research has not been conclusive on the existence of first mover advantage, which has led several scholars to propose the existence of
first mover disadvantage and to propose specific times of entry (e.g. a “fast second”) that could more likely lead to advantage. Data limitations in most extant empirical work confines the study of entry timing strategies. Our paper attempts to overcome some of those limitations by integrating many of the strategic entry timing dimensions into a conceptual framework and a model which allows us to explore a range of competitive outcomes associated with different
entry strategies. Our analysis also departs from the outsized focus on first movers in the literature, presenting the implications on the later entrant strategies.