The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

by Clayton M. Christensen

How can a manager of a large, successful company deal with these realities of size and growth when confronted by disruptive change? I have observed three approaches in my study of this problem: Try to affect the growth rate of the emerging market, so that it becomes big enough, fast enough, to make a meaningful dent on the trajectory of profit and revenue growth of a large company. Wait until the market has emerged and become better defined, and then enter after it “has become large enough to be interesting.” Place responsibility to commercialize disruptive technologies in organizations small enough that their performance will be meaningfully affected by the revenues, profits, and small orders flowing from the disruptive business in its earliest years. As the following case studies show, the first two approaches are fraught with problems. The third has its share of drawbacks too, but offers more evidence of promise.