Failing to lose your head: using Intelligent Fast Failure to defeat the Red Queen

The purpose of this paper is to, first, present Red Queen competition as a psychological explanation of market entry failure and then, second, illustrate how an intervention called Intelligent Fast Failure (IFF) can be used to avoid faulty market entry decisions.

Using Red Queen competition as a lens, a theoretical analysis of how IFF can improve market entry decision-making is provided.

This paper supports the view that failure is a valuable source of organizational learning. Moreover, the analysis suggests that IFF may provide learning that is valuable for market entry decision-making.

While IFF has previously been applied to areas such as foreign language learning, aeronautical safety, and technology-based design, no one to date has suggested its value as an organizational learning tool for market entry. Therefore, this paper is a valuable resource for researchers, managers, and consultants who provide organizational learning and strategic planning services to organizations.