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The subject of this classic is disruptive technology.With the help of many examples from industry (disk-drives being his main workhorse) the author explains what technologies are likely to disrupt, who is likely to be disrupted, why they are likely to be disrupted and what the choices are that the established players have when presented with disruption. The most important point is that disruption generally comes from the practice of repackaging and marketing already existing, straightforward tec...
A good book, but a bit disappointing because totally centred upon business managing. I would like to see the discussion occurring at a lower level, the creative moment, before management decisions. Leave here the five principles stated by Clayton in the book. I generally agree with all of them, being the fifth one the most subjective."Principle #1: Companies Depend on Customers and Investors for ResourcesPrinciple #2: Small Markets Don’t Solve the Growth Needs of Large CompaniesPrinciple #3: Mar...
There are two kinds of innovations: sustaining and disruptive. Sustaining ones are about improving the product along some dimensions, without making it worse along any others: a new iteration of iPhones is an example, or the latest M1 MacBooks. Disruptive ones make the product noticeably worse, except for some dimension that is irrelevant to the users of the current generation. If you are actively using a Nokia smartphone or Windows mobile in 2006, the new iPhone looks like a toy: no copy-paste?...
This book was on my list of "Books I should read" for a long time. Maybe this is why it was so disappointing, or maybe I've just read too many modern case studies of business models to find this engaging. It was interesting to read about the origins of many terms that I take for granted (i.e. disruptive technology), but I couldn't really relate any of the examples or theory beyond anything that's already been mentioned by other more recent authors. And its hard for a 20-something to relate to th...
Notes from Clayton Christenson, The Innovator’s DilemmaIt pays to be a leader in a disruptive innovation• Leadership in sustaining innovations gives little advantage• Leadership in disruptive innovation creates enormous valueBut established companies typically fail in the face of disruptive change• Companies get organized to satisfy current customer’s needs and to facilitate design and production of current products. This organization can then prevent the organization most conducive to developin...
This is a great book on innovation and how start-up and entrepreneurs ought to fashion their company to go against entrenched incumbents.The gist of the book is an interesting trend the author found when analyzing the industry. He found that certain innovations were "disruptive" -- meaning they changed the way a market worked, and some were "sustaining" -- meaning they were really just improvements on existing products.The author traces disruptive innovations through the steel industry, where it...
Well, this is a mixed bag, this interesting little book. The observations are prescient but the presentation is abominable. I'm sure for those who demand an exhaustive regurgitation of every step in an analysis, it is useful, but I felt that most of the book could have been the research appendices. On the other hand, the conclusions drawn were incisive and incredibly useful. It would have worked well if it had been presented as a research paper with a 10-page abstract. As a practitioner, I could...
Chances are, you’re reading this review on an example of disruptive technology. An iPhone or other smartphone. An iPad or a notebook computer. Or simply a laptop. Every one of these devices turned its industry upside down when it was introduced, driving established companies to the brink of insolvency, or even into oblivion, and paving the way for new actors to enter the landscape.Today, almost instinctively, we understand the concept of disruptive technology. But it wasn’t until after the publi...
Sometimes, supply creates demand. That’s my summary of the book.
This business classic resonated with my long career in high tech. There were no major conclusions that I took issue with. I nodded my head often while reading. So in a few words — Christenson really knows his material. The negatives:At twenty plus years the examples are dated and presented in an academic manner. Disk drives compose the largest of the industry analyses, so some boring examples in many cases. The charts and graphs are poorly done and it makes one actually appreciate power point sl...
This is such a well articulated and well organized book. The book can pretty much be divided into two parts: the problems that arise with disruptive tech and how to deal with them; they are further dissected into eleven chapters for better comprehension of the topic. Sure, you could grasp the crux of the book by reading the summary provided at the end. But the cases provided to complement the author's points turn out to be pretty great and help the readers gain greater insights into disruptive t...
One of the most counter intuitive books I have come across. Must read for anyone with a business bent of mind!!
The ideas are astounding - a must read, however, the book is quite dense. There is a ton of research behind everything, but the presentation can be a bit redundant/overwhelming. Definitely worth the read - but don't be afraid to skim sections once you've gotten the point.
This is one of the best books on innovation in the last 20 years. I read it in 2000 and still refer to it. Christensen’s core insight/argument is that businesses fight shy of developing innovations that will 1: produce limited profits initially; 2: cannibalise core, high cashflow/profit lines. But that what look like niche technologies – Winchester drives, hydraulic backhoes, etc – improve in capability, reliability and reduce in price to the point that they entirely cannibalise the existing mar...
As usual, Christensen has presented an effective framework for considering and handling a topic. Even though this was written in the late 1990s, the principles still hold true.I have so many ideas for how to properly evaluate and maneuver legal innovations after reading this. It’s pivotal.
A pretty convincing argument for why large, established companies struggle to keep up with disruptive innovations. It turns out that the very things that make those companies dominant in an existing market work against them when considering new markets. As the pace of disruption accelerates, the lessons in this book become more and more important. Less convincing are the solutions the book proposes and, at an even more basic level, how to distinguish between what the book calls "sustaining innov...
Clayton M. Christensen writes clearly and analytically, with lot's of examples and research, pleasure to read. Thoughts so logical you wonder how the managers/CXO's he talks about didn't figure this out by themselves already yesterday. A thought provoking read no doubt, even for those not in executive positions.It's not a 100%, but gets some future predictions right - fun to discover them 18 years later. And it's also interesting to use the frameworks described to think about new technologies th...
Clayton M. Christensen in The Innovator’s Dilemma argues a distinction between two types of technology change, each with different effects on the industry’s leaders: technologies (either incremental or radical) that sustain the industry’s rate of improvement in product performance, a typical prerogative of dominant firms, and on the other side, disruptive innovations which redefine performance trajectories and result in the failure of the industry’s leading firms. A longer summary can be found h...
This is one of those books that becomes an instant classic. Everyone talks about it until you think you know most of what it has to say without reading it shortly after it comes out. You can barely carry on a conversation about technology without someone using the term "disruptive." It deserves that reception and as with most cases, there is much more to gain by reading the book than just the popular representation.The book defined disruptive technologies vs. sustaining technologies and addresse...
A (relatively) old but thorough book with strong evidence which resonates strongly to this day.Professor Christensen writes this book as a prescriptive guide on how good managers can fend off disruptive technologies which take over the market and overthrow established firms.However, entrepreneurs seeking to transform existing markets will also find this book's broad exploration of the topic highly insightful.What's missing from Professor Christensen's work is an exploration of modern case studie...