Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-11-2010
Abstract
Much of the recent debate over Internet policy has focused on the permissibility of business practices that are becoming increasingly common, such as new forms of network management, prioritization, pricing, and strategic partnerships. This Essay analyzes these developments through the lens of the management literature on the product life cycle, dominant designs, technological trajectories and design hierarchies, and the role of complementary assets in determining industry structure. This analysis suggests that many of these business practices may represent nothing more than a reflection of how the nature of competition changes as industries mature. This in turn suggests that network neutrality and other proposals to restrict such practices run the risk of diverting the industry from its natural evolutionary path.
Keywords
Dominant design, technological trajectories, design hierarchies, technological paradigms, Thomas Kuhn, modularity, transaction costs, complementary assets, divided technical leadership, network neutrality, network management, prioritization, strategic partnerships
Publication Title
Northwestern University Law Review
Repository Citation
Yoo, Christopher S., "Product Life Cycle Theory and the Maturation of the Internet" (2010). All Faculty Scholarship. 288.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/288
Included in
Administrative Law Commons, Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Communications Law Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Computer Law Commons, Digital Communications and Networking Commons, Organizations Law Commons, Science and Technology Law Commons, Science and Technology Policy Commons, Science and Technology Studies Commons
Publication Citation
104 Nw. U. L. Rev. 641 (2010).