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In the Media

Fending off Disruption: Incumbent Strategies for Digital Transformation

Mar 17, 2019 // Highlights research by Ron Adner and Rahul Kapoor in an article about companies elevating digital priorities in their strategic planning to preempt technological disruption.
View at Transfin

Walmart Thinks Shopping via Text Might Be Retail's Next Big Thing

Nov 08, 2018 // Quotes Ron Adner in an article about Jetblack, Walmart’s chat-based personal shopping service. Jetblack is the first company to develop out of Walmart’s tech incubator and operates separately from its parent company, which Adner says could lead to future issues.
View at CNN Business

Why Success Is a Matter of Time

Dec 11, 2017 // Features Ron Adner in an article about Disney’s forthcoming direct-to-consumer streaming service, and the importance of timing when launching a new business. Adner says that Disney is losing the insurance of predictable revenue by removing itself from bundle services like Netflix and Hulu.
View at Broadcasting & Cable

Right Tech, Wrong Time

Nov 01, 2016 // Ron Adner and co-author Rahul Kapoor examine the shifts in technology that disrupt businesses and industries and the importance of timing these transitions.
View at Harvard Business Review

Navigating the Leadership Challenges of Innovation Ecosystems

Aug 17, 2016 // Innovation and strategy expert Ron Adner says that innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum — instead, a web of participants often work together to find new solutions. But when they do, who’s in charge?
View at MIT Sloan Management Review

So what if Iranian drones did strike Syria? We are not entering a dark age of robotic warfare.

Apr 05, 2016 // Quotes Ron Adner about the complexities involved with deploying military drones. Adner explains that any innovation poses ecosystem challenges, requiring organizational and infrastructural support.
View at Washington Post

Many Companies Still Don’t Know How to Compete in the Digital Age

Mar 28, 2016 // Ron Adner uses Kodak as an example of disruption in the digital age. "Companies that learn the right lesson from Kodak’s failure—that learn to approach their competitive strategy with a wide lens that captures ecosystem dynamics—will be more likely to respond effectively to this new generation of disruptive challenges.
View at Harvard Business Review

The Reason Behind Apple’s Wild Success (and Its One Major Failure)

Sep 15, 2015 // Ron Adner says Steve Jobs was able to dictate favorable terms for Apple to cell phone operators and app developers.
View at Yahoo! Finance

The pitfalls of the Microsoft and Apple ‘frenemy’ pact

Sep 14, 2015 // Ron Adner comments on “frenemy” relationships, in which competing companies work together on mutually profitable endeavors.
View at Financial Times

The World's Top 50 Leadership and Management Thinkers

Sep 05, 2013 // Being nominated for a Thinkers50 award is largely considered akin to being nominated for an “Oscar” in management and leadership thinking.
View at Forbes

Don't Draw the Wrong Lessons from Better Place's Bust

Jun 07, 2013 // The failure last month of green-tech start-up Better Place, which promised to free drivers and nations from oil dependence and revolutionize transportation, has generated both attention and derision.
View at Harvard Business Review

Disruptors Can Delay the Apple iPod Way

Apr 22, 2013 // The threat and opportunity presented by the emergence of cheaper, faster, better innovations has captured the attention of established firms, hopeful startups and investors of all kinds. But while cheaper, faster, better often wins, it doesn't necessarily win right away.
View at CNBC

Can Electric Cars Crack the Mass Market?

May 30, 2012 // The Chevy Volt was crowned European Car of the Year for 2012 on March 5. But the celebration was muted by GM’s decision—three days earlier—to halt the Volt production line due to a lack of consumer demand.
View at The Wall Street Journal

A Sad Lesson in Collaborative Innovation

May 09, 2012 // The innovator's quest has been to find the win-win proposition: a great new product that can create differentiated value for consumers while supporting differentiated profits for the producer.
View at Harvard Business Review

The Tunnel Vision of Electric-Car Manufacturers

Mar 13, 2012 // In a Future Tense article today, Steve LeVine ponders the electric car’s troubles—low sales, companies shuttering—and wonders what the cause may be: Is the electric car a premature innovation?
View at Slate