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A great piece called "Disruption is not a strategy" by Jerry Neumann (http://reactionwheel.net/2016/05/disruption-is-not-a-strategy.html http://reactionwheel.ne
by wyc 9y ago
A great piece called "Disruption is not a strategy" by Jerry Neumann (http://reactionwheel.net/2016/05/disruption-is-not-a-strategy.html http://reactionwheel.net/2016/05/disruption-is-not-a-strateg...) illustrates the difficulties of taking the lofty ideas from The Innovator's Dilemma and applying them to new companies. He also makes the observation that Christensen was writing for Fortune 500 CEOs who care about risk management, not upstart companies trying to find product-market fit.
I think it's most prudent to acknowledge disruption theory as one of many interconnected factors that influence the outcome of business ventures instead of an unshakable dogma with a dominating impact on all things.
- ThomPete 9y agoAgree thats a great essay. Christensens writing was almost mostly an analysis and never a "how to" although in innovators solution he did venture into that. But the most important book he wrote was the first one. That's at least how I read him. Contrary to what many think about I.D. it was mostly a book about the failure of (good) management, rather than one of innovation. It was a book that tried to shed lights on how to avoid being disrupted rather than how to disrupt. It's clear from his writing that you don't set out to disrupt industries. You make solutions for those industries that might end up disrupting them. And so they should mostly be seen as historical and cautionary tales rather than as cookbooks for disruption. I think many people get this wrong about his writing.