R&D competition and the persistence of technology leadership

Abstract

We show that whether a technology leader invests more in R&D compared to a technology follower may depend on the R&D process and whether the follower is in the market. Considering Cournot competition, we show that if the firms are in the market, the technology leader (follower) invests more in R&D under a step‐by‐step R&D process (when the firms target similar technologies). However, if the technology follower can enter the market only if it is successful in R&D, the technology follower may invest more (invests more) in R&D under the step‐by‐step R&D process (when the firms target similar technologies). We also show the implications of Bertrand competition.