MANAGING QUALITY AND NETWORK EFFECTS IN THE HIGH-TECH MARKET: THE CASE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TOOLS IN LIFE SCIENCE INDUSTRY

摘要

We seek to extend current theory on research and development (R&D) tools and creatennew insights by adopting a multi-disciplinary approach and drawing from literatures onnquality and network effects in the high-tech market. More specifically, we use a unifiednframework on quality and network effects, and examine two forms of quality effects (thirdnparty quality reviews and company-advertised quality) and two types of network effectsn(network externalities effect and social network effect) in driving the popularity andnsuccess of R&D tools. By tracking two categories of R&D tools in the life science industrynfor a decade, our research provides a sharper understanding of R&D tools and thereforencan help R&D tool producers to accelerate the market acceptance of their new tools, whichnshould promote faster innovation and ultimately benefit the whole R&D community