Higher order technological learning as determinant of market success in the multimedia arena; a success story, a failure, and a question mark: AGFA/BAYER AG, Enable Software, and Sun Microsystems

The case studies of three players in the multimedia arena focused on instances and patterns of technological learning - technical and administrative learning as it occurs within and across technology-driven organizations - are compared and contrasted Success and failure to learn from? customer competitor, and supplier feedback and to integrate lessons learned in shaping entrepreneurial decision making and marketing strategy are highlighted. These case studies were all composed through triangulation of multiple field interviews with several company principals, of publicly available information, and of company documents made available to the author by the companies studied. The first story is about AGFA Electronic Preprint Systems, a subsidiary of BAYER AG, based in Wilmington, Mass., and a lender in the high end desk top publishing and reproduction business. The company successfully reinvented itself driving its transformation by a vigorous focus at lower, middle, and top management levels on employee, customer, competitor, and supplier feedback and by integrating lessons learned into a very entrepreneurial manufacturing and marketing strategy. The second story is about Enable Software, an upstate New York software venture that was among the pioneers of software integration but failed to capitalize on the niche it carved for itself lost its strategic focus, and recently transferred ifs customer base to Microsoft through a strategic alliance with the software giant. The third story is about Sun Microsystems, a Silicon Valley producer of engineering workstations currently faced with major challenges to redefine its worldviews and reinvent itself ns its market niche comes under increasing pressure from higher and lower end original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.