Neither Heroes nor Chaos

Abstract

This paper wishes to contribute to the ongoing debate on standardization processes by addressing on the economic and social aspects that shape the creation and diffusion of standards. The aim of the paper is to deal with a clear gap in the literature, as evolution of standards over time has not been fully explored. Indeed, mainstream literature tends to treat creation and diffusion as two distinguished phases. The research relies on an in-depth document analysis of the VHS vs. BETAMAX contest. By drawing upon the Actor-Network Theory, the paper shows that the evolution of a standard is a complex process where creation and diffusion are co-evolving dimensions, which cannot be easily distinguished; second, it shows that the coupling of both economic and social aspects permits a clear understanding of the factors and events that affect the evolution of a standard and the dominance of one standard among competing ones.