Dynamic managerial capabilities and entrant survival: insights from the solar PV industry life cycle

This study identifies the dynamic management capabilities which command firms’ survival in their entries into both new and uncertain industries at the maturity stage of an industry lifecycle. Through quantitative data analysis, we reveal that the effect of these capabilities is asymmetrical: whilst dynamic management capabilities (reflected by prior industry experience of executive management) do not assist in entry during the evolution stage, more so, the length of prior industry experience available to entrants at a time of entry correlates to post-entry mortality rates, these capabilities are important to succeed in market entry during the maturity stage of an ILC. Our analysis comprises data from the energy sector during the evolution and maturity stages of the solar photovoltaic industry. The empirical setting of the energy sector over the last three decades provides a fresh and ideal domain in which to test the success of entry timing decisions at various stages of an industry lifecycle in an uncertain industry. Our results overwhelmingly support our central thesis regarding the specific impact of dynamic management capabilities on post-entry survival. We test and find partial support for our hypotheses by analyzing the acquisitions and joint ventures of 149 energy firms in the years between 1997 and 2016. These findings have important implications for the literature on entry timing and dynamic management capabilities.