Title:
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Innovation and Strategy in Video games development : A multiple case study of Taiwan' Video game industry
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This thesis aims to address a major research gap in contemporary innovation and
competition research by exploring the nature of innovation and competition in the
videogame development (VGD) industry, which is considered a significant part of
the creative service industries in the contemporary "experience economy". Based
on an in-depth, chronological and multiple-case study, this thesis finds that the
industry has experienced a radical "paradigm-shift" - transforming itself from
producing simple products into supplying complex product systems (CoPS). This
radical transformation consists of numerous incremental innovations across the
whole industry over time. Despite finding that the precise nature of VGD
innovation varies from case to case and firm to firm with a high degree of
idiosyncrasy, this thesis demonstrates the significance and function of content
innovation in the VGD innovation and competition process. This thesis also finds
that, before the rise of the online format, videogame can be characterised as
craft-like/simple product but then videogame should be characterised as
craft-like/complex service system. However, in terms of the production method,
the VGD industry follows the managerial pattern of traditional manufacturing
industries as a great deal of formalisation and modularisation takes place within
these multiple-CoPS project-based firms. In terms of competitive strategy, this
thesis finds that the process and content of strategic management in the VGO
industry do not resemble those described in either the rationalist approach or the
Competitive Forces approach. In other words, the conventional wisdom of
innovation and strategic management research can not offer a satisfactory account of
all these aforementioned changes; and only a multifaceted innovation perspective
and the dynamic capabilities approach (DCA) can truly capture the phenomenon
taking place over the last few years. However, the DCA still needs further
elaboration to be non-tautological.
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