ABSTRACT
One of the fundamental attributes of innovation-related problems is choice, almost always surrounded by the uncertainty of the outcome. Edison did not have to take on the task of bringing electric lighting to Manhattan. Instead, he chose it as a technical and business challenge. George Westinghouse didn’t have to go into the electric power business and challenge Edison’s creative genius. Similarly, Henry Ford did not have to build a new type of car and a new mass manufacturing system; it was his own free choice. Jeff Bezos did not have to develop Amazon.com, an online book-selling service, and move to Seattle from New York, where he was having a successful career developing electronic banking technologies. It was a matter of choice, not routine.
