When used right, technology becomes an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it. The good-to-great companies never began their transitions with pioneering technology, for the simple reason that you cannot make good use of technology until you know which technologies are relevant. And which are those? Those — and only those — that link directly to the three intersecting circles of the Hedgehog Concept.
The idea that technological change is the principal cause in the decline of once-great companies is not supported by the evidence. Technology by itself is never a primary root cause of either greatness or decline — even in decline, it is only an accelerator, not the cause.
Early technology pioneers rarely prevail in the end. VisiCalc lost to Lotus, which lost to Excel. Osborne's portables are gone; De Havilland pioneered the commercial jet and Boeing owned the skies. The second or third follower prevails over the trailblazer again and again.
You could hand the exact same technology to any number of companies with the same resources — and still they would fail. Like the Daytona 500, the primary variable in winning is not the car, but the driver and his team.
Those who turn good into great are motivated by a creative urge and a compulsion for excellence for its own sake. Those who build mediocrity are motivated more by the fear of being left behind. How a company reacts to technological change reveals which one it is.