Both sides made strategic and tactical missteps which could have altered the outcome of the battle.

Analysts said AST's downfall reflected both the increasing competitiveness of the personal computer market and the company's own strategic missteps.

Edison's cylinder, which cost about 7 cents to manufacture, sold for 50 cents, providing a nice gross margin that covered all manner of strategic missteps.

But Adobe has made several serious strategic missteps since 1993 when it began shipping Acrobat.

The board team eventually decided that I.B.M.'s troubles could be traced mostly to strategic missteps.

Novell, like Apple, was a computer industry pioneer that made strategic missteps.

Its stock price rose 15-fold from 1992 to 1999, before tumbling in 2001 after a series of strategic missteps.

But while those forces were beyond its control, the company also made some strategic missteps, like choosing poor locations, and failing to negotiate prices on merchandise and real estate.

But they decided to release it in part to try to breathe life into Mr. Burton's inquiry, which has been hamstrung by partisan wrangling and strategic missteps.

Mr. Newhouse's account of the political and ideological sources of these strategic missteps is less compelling than his critique of American policy.