As Abernathy's study of automobile manufacturers has shown, an industry can easily become prisoner of its own investments in cost-cutting techniques, reducing its ability to develop new products.

Compared with the technological investments needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally, the cost of meeting the current demand for family planning is cheap.

Lack of maintenance inevitably leads to something big breaking and that will cost you a lot more to repair than it would have cost to make small, ongoing investments in regular maintenance.