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1. Big companies are focused on winning the current game
2. Therefore, they incentivize their teams to win that game
3. The incentives discourage winning teams to change the game

Venture Beat's  Devindra Hardawar collected some stories from Nokia that perfectly illustrate this phenomenon. First, it appears Nokia had developed a demo touch screen device back in 2004. Apple released their game changing touchscreen iPhone in 2007, so it would have been possible for Nokia to be the first to market (or at least tied for first) if they would have kept product development going. However it was killed due to the senior management's perception of the riskiness of the concept. Next, it was claimed that in 2004 Nokia management also rejected the concept of an application store for mobile app's that would run on Nokia devices. Other ideas that were killed included a 2002 proposal to develop a 3D user interface for Nokia's Symbian mobile OS platform.

Back in 2004 Nokia was the massive market leader. They where winning the game and likely incentivizing the management team to continue winning the game. Why would they risk changing the rules of the game?

Are you in a big company and continually hear the lament "We have lots of ideas, but where are the game changers?" See the graphic below from the 2010 McKinsey Innovation and Commercialization survey that states that 57% of respondents feel they need a more robust pipeline of big ideas (I will substitute "big ideas" with "game changers" - a common term I hear thrown around).

I suggest you ask the lamenter these questions:

1. Are we a market leader in our industry?
2. Do you judge success by revenue and EBIT growth?
3. Are we, as a company, focused on operational excellence to increase our EBIT?
4. Given your answer to the first three questions, can you honestly be surprised when your organization fails to product "game changers" that would likely disrupt your industry (potentially weakening your market position) and drop your revenues?

Some people love to drop the word "game changer", but fail to understand what it means. "Game Changer" by definition changes the game. If your business is winning the current game and your people are incented on their ability to win that game. Not surprisingly, they will likely not be willing to change the game.

Update: See a real world example of how Nokia management shied away from changing the game.