Surfing the Edge of Chaos by Mark Millemann

"In 1994, J&J (Johnson & Johnson) sparked a revolution in the treatment of coronary artery disease with a new medical device called a stent," writes Wall Street Journal reporter, Ron Winslow. "A stent is a tiny wire mesh cylinder about the diameter of the lead in a pencil that is inserted into an artery by threading a tiny balloon into the obstructed area, inflating the balloon, pushing the stent into place, and removing the deflated balloon. Overnight, the breakthrough solved the major drawback of balloon angioplasty. The steel mesh cylinder prevented arteries from re-closing, re-clogging, or narrowing over time. (In 5 percent of cases under the former procedures, arteries would snap shut abruptly; this life-threatening occurrence required emergency coronary artery bypass surgery.)"1

Heart surgeons applauded the J&J breakthrough. Within three years, it captured 90 percent of a lucrative U. S. market. Revenues from the stent soared to $1 billion annually, and profits from the product accounted for 8 percent of J&J's worldwide net.2 J&J had discovered a New Route, but, unknowingly, it was perched on the slippery slope of a fitness landscape, and traversing it would necessitate a New Destination.