Abstract
Previous empirical investigations of first-mover advantages often focused on individual industries. We complement earlier work with large-sample evidence on the first-mover phenomenon. We present descriptive evidence on product performance using a detailed firm-product-level dataset from Indian manufacturing, with 128 confirmed cases of First Movers (FMs) introducing new products into various industries (as well as 101 Fast Followers (FFs) and 296 Slow Followers (SFs)). First Movers do not have superior outcomes. First Movers have significantly lower product-level sales than Fast Followers, and significantly lower product-level survival than Slow Followers. Policy could have a role in supporting First Movers.