Potential inefficiency, not mere lock-in, makes path dependence theoretically important

Evidence

In other words, it is at least potential inefficiency that is worrying and makes path dependence a matter of high importance. We therefore advocate including inefficiency in an organizational theory of path dependence. — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence, 51

Categorization

• XREF: Directly contests Arthur (1994) and Pierson (2000), who decoupled efficiency from path dependence.
• QUESTION: Can lock-in be diagnosed prospectively, before the inefficiency shows up? That forecasting problem seems unresolved here.