{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.020128087831655993, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0036596523330283625, 'mean_word_length': 4.819148936170213, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Networks as Barriers to Innovators -the Case of Car Distribution in the European Union

Both from inside the industry and from outside actors, there is a high pressure for major innovations in the Sales & Distribution system for cars. But so far only minor changes can be found. Why? In our analysis of the European situation we have found that OEMs, importers and dealers traditionally co-operate for maintaining status quo. IT-based middlemen started an innovative process in 1999. The IT crisis came while they were attacking the barriers of entry. They lost their financial power and had to partly withdraw from the marketplace. Another important issue is that customers obviously are not yet ready for changing their behaviour they prefer to kick the tires instead of clicking the (Internet) button. For the incumbents, the trade-off between the possible benefits from a more cost efficient S&D system and the risks of changing something that works but is costly is negative. In our opinion, future innovations will therefore take place stepwise or evolutionary rather than revolutionary.