First to Market or First to Fail: A General Systems View

Marketers often emphasize the enormous advantage of being first-to-market, but is being first really an advantage? Looking at some of the spectacular successes of products, brands, and technologies, you will see that, contrary to popular belief, so-called first-to-market products like Netscape Navigator, PalmPilot, and iPod were actually later arrivals that became more successful than the originals. Why did they succeed when their predecessors didn't, and why were they so widely perceived as revolutionary? Michael Bolton shows how general systems thinking can help us identify factors that govern the success or failure of an innovative product, service, or strategy. By taking a general systems view, you will understand that the notion of "first" depends on the features or attributes that we choose to observe or ignore. Winners aren't merely "first"-they're the first with attributes interesting enough to the "right" people to make them successful.

• How to predict success or failure for products and their markets
• A general system view to learn from past successes and failures
• Parallels in other disciplines