Just as quality and manufacturing excellence were key to competitiveness in the 1980s, superior commercialization of technology will be crucial in the 1990s. In the coming decade, businesses will rise and fall depending on whether they discipline their commercialization efforts. Some companies—like Canon, Philips, and Merck—already have the capability to bring sophisticated technology-based products to market faster and more often than competitors that treat commercialization as a purely intuitive, creative process. Most other companies will be compelled to develop this capability if they are to thrive.
A version of this article appeared in the May–June 1990 issue of Harvard Business Review.
