With the same originality and astuteness that marked his widely praised Butterfly Economics , Paul Ormerod now examines the “Iron Law of Failure” as it applies to business and government–and explains what can be done about it. ...

Why did VHS, an inferior video recording technology, succeed in the marketplace, driving the superior Betamax out of business? Why do big-budget, acclaimed movies sometimes flop at the box office, while low-budget, idiosyncratic films become huge ...