Ahead of the Time or Just in Time?

Shai Agassi wrote in his post 'Does ERP Matter?'.

Around that ERP Platform, many other products from the vendor and the partners can be loosely plugged and the overall system can stay compliant – as long as all products are adhering to a single eco-system set of rules. That is the vision of Enterprise SOA, and SAP is a few years ahead of the industry on the delivery of such vision.

May be I am just thinking loud.
But is it possible that in some cases being ahead of the time might actually act as a negative factor?

Do you think that the concept of 'Just in Time' can be considered even for these kind of disruptive changes. Traditionally, it is believed that being ahead of the time should be the key to success as you can have the leader’s advantage.

Should a company adapt a strategy of making changes when the environment is more receptive to that change? When the existing processes and the technology are being considered almost obsolete and a better alternative is welcomed universally. May be a situation that can be termed as JIT. Off course, someone has to work towards changing the environment to make it more receptive before the actual change can arrive. Also it is difficult to judge the timing correctly.

Which one should be considered better?
Right change at the right time or
Right change but ahead of the time.

Or Do you think that 'Ahead of the Time' is actually the 'Right Time'? :-)
I think it probably is..