Experience base, strategy-by-doing and new product performance

Abstract

Strategy research views firms’ diverse experience base as critical to new product success. It also champions strategy-by-doing in entrepreneurial settings. This study juxtaposes and bridges these two perspectives to better understand product development. We propose that while a firm’s product portfolio diversity contributes to new product success only to a certain degree, design iteration—a post-launch strategy-by-doing approach—is positively associated with new product performance. Our core contribution points to a complementary relationship: strategy-by-doing helps mitigate the capacity constraints problem that prevents firms from successfully adapting product development capabilities to a dynamic market. Our analysis of a sample of 2,182 nascent mobile apps from 564 top producers in the US market supports our hypotheses. We discuss implications for product development, strategy-by-doing, and technology innovation literature.