Managing Continuous Innovation

Abstract

The Pan Am neon sign was a well-known icon of the Manhattan skyline in New York City. For many Americans, Pan American Airways was the national airline. The company started the airline in 1927, but its entrepreneurial roots go much farther back—to the importing of South American guano, bird droppings that could be sold as fertilizer. In 1991, 64 years later, Pan Am declared bankruptcy, and out of the ashes rose a manufacturer of intravenous solutions for the medical sector.