The role of bottlencks:

• Bottlenecks are relatively easy to identify, but hard to predict • Bottleneck location affects where innovation should be focused. Innovation upstream from a bottleneck, for example, is likely immaterial for overall performance • Occupying a bottleneck offers the opportunity to resolve the bottleneck, create value, and grow. So, it is strategically advantageous to position here when growth is important • Bottleneck crowdedness affects the ability of firms to gain market power and capture value o Occupying an uncrowded bottleneck is ideal: by exploiting an uncrowded component firms can create value and ride a growth wave while simultaneously capturing value and creating profits • Bottleneck shifts destabilize ecosystems o They can reshuffle relationships and roles, and thereby create opportunities for advantage