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The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth
by
A seminal work by bestselling author Clayton M. Christensen.
In his international bestseller The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen exposed this crushing paradox behind the failure of many industry leaders: by placing too much focus on pleasing their most profitable customers, these firms actually paved the way for their own demise by ignoring the disruptive techno ...more
In his international bestseller The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen exposed this crushing paradox behind the failure of many industry leaders: by placing too much focus on pleasing their most profitable customers, these firms actually paved the way for their own demise by ignoring the disruptive techno ...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
October 1st 2003
by Harvard Business School Press
(first published January 1st 2003)
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A wonderful follow up book to Innovator's Dilemma from Mr. Christensen. In this book Mr. Christensen gives the entrepreneurs different aspects to be considered when coming up with an innovative solution. He points out how traditional way of working may not be the most suitable and in fact in many situations harmful for developments of innovative disruptive solutions.
The key take away from the books is
1. Start innovating early. Do not wait for the company to reach a stage where it becomes imperat ...more
The key take away from the books is
1. Start innovating early. Do not wait for the company to reach a stage where it becomes imperat ...more
It took me a while, but worth finally persevering to the end. This isn't your typical business book, with a few nice aphorisms and over and done with in a couple of hours. No, this is a tightly argued guide to repeated disruptive innovation. And its not easy, in fact, Christensen even admits that he knows of only a handful of businesses that have achieved it, and a large part of their success came from the influence of their founders. The suggestions he makes does, however, suggest an explanatio
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"Disruption" is one of the most misunderstood terms — it implies not only a technological advancement, but a specific kind of innovation that — while un-interesting at first— is poised to become a real breakthrough.
There are two types of disruptive innovation: ones is low-end disruption (i.e. something that costs less than the main thing and performs worse for a while, until it gets better but still costs less), the other is new-market disruption (i.e. a product whose main consumer is someone th ...more
There are two types of disruptive innovation: ones is low-end disruption (i.e. something that costs less than the main thing and performs worse for a while, until it gets better but still costs less), the other is new-market disruption (i.e. a product whose main consumer is someone th ...more
Where The Innovator's Dilemma was about theory, this is about implementation-a recipe for managers looking to lead successful companies. Christensen admirably tackles the complex problem of guiding a company though times of disruption. There's a lot here, but the essence is that if you want to succeed, start with an idea that is somewhat profitable and go after customers who are under-served, either because no product exists that fits their needs, or they're the least profitable segment of an es
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I finially finished working my way through this excellent book. I think the Solution is actually better than the Problem - but is not a substitute.
It has excellent lessons, with the usual case studies that is standard Christenson fare. I believe these to be important regardless of your particular situation - may you be a worker bee in a big organization, an entrepreneur trying to figure out how to break into a market or a big company exec trying to figure out how to not get eaten by the dozens o ...more
It has excellent lessons, with the usual case studies that is standard Christenson fare. I believe these to be important regardless of your particular situation - may you be a worker bee in a big organization, an entrepreneur trying to figure out how to break into a market or a big company exec trying to figure out how to not get eaten by the dozens o ...more
Picked up this book off-hand out of curiosity, but couldn't put it down. Many of the books in this genre are full of fluff, but this one is filled with theory and insight. This evening, I was reading an article on Google moving into the netbook arena next year with its mobile-based Android operating system. Steve Ballmer has repeatedly dismissed the idea of Android/Chrome being any threat to Microsoft Office, but Google is doing exactly what this book warns, positioning itself in a seemingly non
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Solved a dilemma I had.
Glenn recommended this to me over dinner before Christmas as the $20 version of one of his favorite classes/professors at HBS. Imagine my delight when I discovered it was available on the Kindle (after getting a Kindle for Christmas this year one of the hardest things initially was deciding what to read on it, since I have a stack of physical books I want to read and I didn't want to repurchase any of those). The book is all about the business of innovation, and is rife with historical examples
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It is not an easy book, I wont lie.
And doing it in Audio format probably made it even harder.
It is written in a very formal style. And although he tries to summarise key points and keep referring back to them, there is just so much information/theory/examples in this book.
You need to be in the type of position in a company where you get exposed to these high level sales/ideas/innovation decisions for this book to probably make any sense.
It really does clarify a lot about why certain things work, ...more
And doing it in Audio format probably made it even harder.
It is written in a very formal style. And although he tries to summarise key points and keep referring back to them, there is just so much information/theory/examples in this book.
You need to be in the type of position in a company where you get exposed to these high level sales/ideas/innovation decisions for this book to probably make any sense.
It really does clarify a lot about why certain things work, ...more
A truly thought-provoking business book about how to make innovation work in all companies. However brilliant the content, it is written in a very formal style, and is hard to read.
Details: Back by excellent research and detailed analysis this book explains how some companies succeed with innovation and why some fail. Using case studies the authors delve into what makes companies successfully innovate and comes up with some surprising rules around organizational structure.
However, this is writte ...more
Details: Back by excellent research and detailed analysis this book explains how some companies succeed with innovation and why some fail. Using case studies the authors delve into what makes companies successfully innovate and comes up with some surprising rules around organizational structure.
However, this is writte ...more
One of the best business books I have ever read. I read this during undergrad study in Business. I could almost feel the light bulb coming on in my head! Told using easy-to-understand language, it is a must read for those who wish to understand how to compete in today's business environment.
One of the top 5 business books I've read. Explained a lot of things I noticed about creating and growing software products!
a very interesting business book about disruption and innovation, including what established firms can do to remain leaders
A lot of good interesting ideas and well founded research. Just a bit over my head
Though not amongst the most popular of Clayton Christensen's classics, The Innovator's Solution could certainly be rated over its parent-work - The Innovator's Dilemma - for two reasons: first, it offers an actionable sequence of steps for senior management grappling with disruptive innovation; second, it details all the key concepts and examples laid out in the original work, obviating the need for reading it. For any business to create a new growth opportunity, there exists three distinct rout
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Jobs to be done theory. "People dont want a quarter inch drill, they want a quater inch hole". Milk shake case. Segmentin by traditional metrics might reduce adressable market, blinds you to emerging competitors and causes improvements to your product that are irrelevant to customers.
Concepts of low end (making products that are good enough to meet needs of currently overserved customers using a sustaining lowe cost business model) and new market disruption (making products that target customers ...more
Concepts of low end (making products that are good enough to meet needs of currently overserved customers using a sustaining lowe cost business model) and new market disruption (making products that target customers ...more
Overall interesting. About the concept how the business become commodities, how the companies innovate, the benefits of vertical and modular businesses and when to use each.
But the author gives sooo many general suggestions about "any" kind of business. Too general and not specific. I cannot know for sure but have a feeling these best suggestions just don't work.
But the author gives sooo many general suggestions about "any" kind of business. Too general and not specific. I cannot know for sure but have a feeling these best suggestions just don't work.
A theory that describes how does a manager escape the Innovator's Dilemma.
The Innovator's Solution is a Christenson book that expands on The Innovator's Dilemma and posits several theories about paths to escape the dilemma.
The Innovator's Solution is a Christenson book that expands on The Innovator's Dilemma and posits several theories about paths to escape the dilemma.
Clayton Christensen has managed to capture his theories of market disruption, jobs to be done and the transfer of value in value chain into a single, easy to understand book.
Highly recommended for anybody that wants to make a bit more systematic search on finding the the next big idea.
Highly recommended for anybody that wants to make a bit more systematic search on finding the the next big idea.
Blindly copying the best practices of successful companies without the guidance of circumstance-contingent theory is akin to fabricating feathered wings and flapping hard.
Patient for growth impatient for profit.
Patient for growth impatient for profit.
It defines the 21st century marketplace ... innovate or die. For years, Japanese dominance of technology was predicated entirely on efficiency and cost-cutting. Without innovation however, effectiveness and market share decline proportionally.
I've not ready much business strategy in the last decade, but this is indeed very good.
the book repeats the exact same expression waaaay too many times!
Worth reading for the insights but is a bit dated at this point -- also would have liked to see more tangible data in the case studies
Fantastic! A good read for sure!
There are great chapters on {good}money and policy for innovation in this book. The chapter 9 is extremely useful.
Like waiting at the DMV—lots of time spent on something with minimal payoff, yet you feel compelled to do it anyway.
Examples were a bit outdated. Enjoyed the part describing how Blackberry / RIM was on the right track and camera phones were unlikely to take off.
Introduced to me as the only business professor Silicon Valley engineers bother reading. This is a book I will re-read at some point of my career. An interesting host of theories -- some of which contradict a business school education in how we're taught to approach strategy and marketing. However Christensen rightly has his critics, and when it comes to strategy and predictions, one must take it with a pinch of salt. Many cases are context dependent, and wisdom is usually known with hindsight.
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A rich, satisfying, thought-provoking read. The authors call out seemingly obvious decisions to address competition with a bigger picture theory that tries to explain why decisions which seem to make a lot of sense initially can lead to an unintended tailspin for companies. A call to draw on this theory rather than numbers and the context of why we are still drawn to make those decisions which don't bode well for the long term.
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Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Technology & Operations Management and General Management faculty groups. He is best known for his study of innovation in commercial enterprises. His first book, The Innovator's Dilemma, articulated his theory of disruptive technology.
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“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.”
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“Disruptive innovations, in contrast, don’t attempt to bring better products to established customers in existing markets. Rather, they disrupt and redefine that trajectory by introducing products and services that are not as good as currently available products. But disruptive technologies offer other benefits—typically, they are simpler, more convenient, and less expensive products that appeal to new or less-demanding customers.3”
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