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.

艾伯纳西对汽车制造商的研究表明，一个行业很容易成为自己在削减成本技术上投资的俘虏，从而降低了开发新产品的能力。