Platform Leadership How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation

As high-tech industries become increasingly modular and interconnected--and the ability to innovate becomes the purview of just about anyone--the most successful companies are those that orchestrate industrywide innovations to support not only their products, but also the systems or platforms in which their products work. To become a platform leader--a company that provides the technological foundation on which other products are built--is the Holy Grail of these high-tech industries. The quest is complex and risky, because the success of platform leaders depends largely on their ability to encourage other firms to develop complementary innovations. High-tech-strategy experts Annabelle Gawer and Michael A.…