One key concept for the case is att

One key concept for the case is attacker’s advantage. The case illustrates how an advantage might arise from “learning curve” discontinuities in the technical knowledge of those inside an organization, hi other words, the sellers of a new format may have a temporary but significant technical advantage over an incumbent seller of a leading product because the learning curve of the older format is largely unrelated to the learning curve for the new format. Hence, to master the new format, an old incumbent has to invest just like an entrant. A new entrant may gain an advantage over a leading incumbent firm when the incumbent does not invest in the new learning curve in a timely manner. In this case, electronic formats for displaying information require a different set of skills than print publishing, and these skills are not easy to put into practice. Hence, this case can motivate a lively discussion about the relationship between the learning curves Encyclopaedia Britannica faced in production of books and in production of encyclopedias in other formats.