Managing Growth Options

The investment opportunities with the greatest value creation potential often arise at points of discontinuity caused by technological innovation, deregulation, or shifts in consumer behavior. For example, digital technology, telephone deregulation, and home computing are opening up the possibility of exciting growth prospects in pay-TV, cable and wireless telephony, and network-based services. Yet investing in these opportunities is risky since potential losses could be substantial.
Companies have two obvious strategic choices in such uncertain growth situations. …