We study the occurrence and performance effects of organizational learning in the U.S. retail industry. Six modes of choosing competitive actions are distinguished: momentum, blind imitation, learning from own success, learning from others’ success, risk-related learning, and opportunity-related learning. We find that momentum, blind imitation, and risk- as well as opportunity- related learning are prevalent. Further, the results point to the importance of interorganizational learning. Firms in this industry should have used the past actions of their competitors as a benchmark, but seem to have failed to realize this necessity.
