Pre-entry experience, post-entry learning and firm survival: Evidence from the local area networking switch industry

We investigate the influence of pre-entry experience and learning on firm survival for a sample of 121 innovative firms in the LAN switch industry. We find that experience gained prior to entry into markets, and idiosyncratic, persistent, and time independent firm attributes are important determinants of firms’ survival. However, the effect of pre-entry experience diminishes as firms gain post-entry experience. This finding leads to the conclusion that the window of opportunity for small firms to assimilate the necessary complementary assets and ultimately outperform incumbents is very narrow.