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The disruptor's dilemma: TiVo and the U.S. television ecosystem

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

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Authors

Ansari, SM 
Garud, R 
Kumaraswamy, A 

Abstract

Firms introducing disruptive innovations into multisided ecosystems may confront the disruptor's dilemma – they must gain the support of the very incumbents they disrupt. We examine how these firms may address this dilemma through a longitudinal study of TiVo, a company that pioneered the Digital Video Recorder. Our analysis reveals how TiVo navigated co-opetitive tensions by continually adjusting its strategy, its technology platform, and its relational positioning within the evolving U.S. television industry ecosystem. We theorize how (a) disruption may affect not just specific incumbents, but also the entire ecosystem, (b) co-opetition is not just dyadic, but also multilateral and intertemporal, and (c) strategy is both a deliberative and emergent process involving continual adjustments, as the disruptor attempts to balance co-opetitive tensions over time.

Description

Keywords

disruptive innovation, ecosystems, entrepreneurship process, strategy process, strategy framing, commercialization

Journal Title

Strategic Management Journal

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1097-0266

Volume Title

37

Publisher

Wiley