Post-entry product introduction: who explores new niches?

Where do innovative products come from? Why do some firms address new market niches and others do not? The literature has rarely blended the concept of innovativeness of a product at the market level with the coherence of the product portfolio at the firm level. In this paper, we examine whether the introduction of products that are highly innovative occurs in firms that are very differentiated, both in terms of target niches and in terms of technological competencies, or rather in firms that focus on specific market segments and that have a limited technological capability. The results show that the introduction of products that are new to the market generally occurs in firms that introduce many products in few market segments and are characterized by a set of specialized technological and market competencies. At least in this industry, the myth of the small specialized niche player does not hold. Implications have a positive relevance to assess firms’ behaviour in a given market. From the welfare point of view, this paper helps disentangle monopolistic power generated by truly new products and simple versioning of the product.