Competition and Adoption of Search Engine Software

In recent years, international software companies encountered fierce competition from indigenous software providers in China. In the Internet search engine market, Baidu is a latecomer compared to Google. However, by catering to local users' preferences, Baidu is able to dominate the market now. In this paper, we developed a conceptual model to analyze why users want to adopt and stay in Baidu/Google. In contrast with the user adoption literature, we investigated users' intention to use and continuance intention separately. By discriminating users who stay at Google/Baidu with those who are new to the websites, we may get a better understanding of the market competition. The results of the paper shed light on answering questions as to "What are the key reasons why Baidu wins the battle with Google?""How Baidu leverage local users' behavior and get more market share than Google?" "Is there any vital strategy which leads the success of Baidu?" The paper may also help practitioners who are planning to enter China market by providing practical lessons.