Initial Environmental Conditions and Technological Change

This paper provides a theoretical link between the initial environmental conditions surrounding a firm's birth and first few years of operations and its process of technological change. The main argument is that initial environmental conditions influence the technological trajectories of business firms. Four mechanisms through which this influence is carried out are technological paradigm, dominant logic, organizational structure, and configuration. These mechanisms act as carriers of initial influences and constrain the future technological developments, restricting thus the possible technological trajectories a firm can follow. This paper discusses the above mechanisms and a number of propositions concerning the kind of influence different initial environmental conditions have on technological change. The paper concludes with implications for further research.