The paper by Sarah Lubik, Sirirat Lim, Dr Ken Platts and Dr Tim Minshall, Market-pull and technology-push in manufacturing start-ups in emerging industries, has now been made freely available by the journal’s publishers, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, for the next 12 months.

Emerging industries can either be those where a technology exists but the corresponding downstream value chain is unclear, or a new technology may subvert the existing value chain to satisfy existing customer needs. The article focuses on market-pull and technology-push orientations in manufacturing ventures, specifically examining how and why this orientation shifts during the firm's formative years.

A multiple case study approach of 25 UK start-ups in emerging industries was used to examine this seldom explored area. The authors offer two models of dynamic business-orientation in start-ups and explain the common reasons for shifts in orientation and why these two orientations do not generally co-exist during early firm development.

The paper found that technology-push start-ups often changed to a market-pull orientation because of new partners, new market information or shift in management priorities. In contrast, many of the start-ups beginning with a market-pull orientation shifted to a technology-push orientation because early market experiences necessitated a focus on improving processes in order to increase productivity or meet partner specifications, or to meet a demand for complementary products.

The Outstanding Paper selection forms part of the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence. Emerald runs these awards to acknowledge the excellent contributions made by its authors, editors and reviewers.

View the article here