The Wide Lens

If you don't look beyond your innovation, you're setting yourself up to fail. Innovation is today's business mantra. But the sad reality is that, all too often, good people work hard on projects that can't succeed. Why? It's rarely a lack of customer insight or bad execution. According to Ron Adner, too many projects fail because managers don't understand how their success depends on other actors in their "innovation ecosystem." These external stakeholders are easy to overlook, but are the critical difference between success and failure. For example, although Nokia was first to market with a revolutionary 3G wireless phone, it failed to take off because co-innovators responsible for crucial technologies-like network infrastructure and mobile service-were years late to market. Likewise, Hollywood struggled for a decade to make the switch to digital film, all because the studios neglected a critical partner-the theater operators-who were reluctant to pay for the costly transition that would benefit studios but not themselves. Drawing on a decade of research and field testing, Adner untangles the often baffling mysteries of why great products fail. He reveals the hidden logic of innovation ecosystems and offers clear steps that firms can take to drastically increase their odds of success.