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chughes120's review against another edition
3.0
Technically 2.5 stars. It was dull and I kept getting lost in the technical specs of what was being discussed (so many different size drives!). When I could follow it, it was fine …there were a few interesting nuggets in there. He should probably update his section on the electric car though because his thoughts on that industry are very obviously outdated.
marshally's review
5.0
This book really blew my mind. Should have read it years earlier!
The first half of the book presents a framework for understanding disruptive innovation versus sustaining innovation. WARNING: Technology journalists consistently misuse the term "disruptive" to describe any new technology that causes significant discomfort to existing market participants. This is NOT how the term has been defined by Christensen.
Rather than go into the gory details here, just read the book. Or at least the first half of it. Christensen lays out the framework in the first half, and the last half is mostly case studies demonstrating the theory at work. You get the most bang for your buck out of the first half.
The first half of the book presents a framework for understanding disruptive innovation versus sustaining innovation. WARNING: Technology journalists consistently misuse the term "disruptive" to describe any new technology that causes significant discomfort to existing market participants. This is NOT how the term has been defined by Christensen.
Rather than go into the gory details here, just read the book. Or at least the first half of it. Christensen lays out the framework in the first half, and the last half is mostly case studies demonstrating the theory at work. You get the most bang for your buck out of the first half.
tikitechie's review
4.0
I enjoyed the premise of this book, but even the newest version is now quite old and the examples are rather out of date. It would be interesting to see if the example industries cited by the author have continued to demonstrate the trends he posits in this book.
The author’s premise is basically that large established organizations cannot effectively exploit new disruptive technologies, even with great management. This is because new markets are too small to be motivational and almost by definition require different production, distribution, and sales strategies. The author presents three separate strategies for dealing with that kind of change, and demonstrates real-life examples of industries that dealt with such changes.
The book is obviously filled with lots of business jargon, but it’s still surprisingly readable.
The author’s premise is basically that large established organizations cannot effectively exploit new disruptive technologies, even with great management. This is because new markets are too small to be motivational and almost by definition require different production, distribution, and sales strategies. The author presents three separate strategies for dealing with that kind of change, and demonstrates real-life examples of industries that dealt with such changes.
The book is obviously filled with lots of business jargon, but it’s still surprisingly readable.
jwsg's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of those books that so many people mention/name drop that I just had to read it to see what it was all about. (Next on the list: Game of Thrones). It was well worth the read.
In the Innovator's Dilemma, Christensen argues that in some cases the reason why good, solid companies fail to stay ahead of the competition is not because they are incompetent, but because their structures/ processes/ incentives are all geared towards managing "sustaining technological change", as opposed to "disruptive technological change". When disruptive technologies emerge, the market for them is often not clear. The performance specs of these disruptive technologies do not meet the needs of companies' existing customers (e.g. in terms of capacity for disk drives) but have other attributes (e.g. physical size) that could potentially be of value to other (as yet undefined) markets. But in good companies, their processes are geared towards developing products that will meet the needs of their existing customers. Moreover, these firms are embedded in a larger "value network" that encompasses both customers and suppliers geared towards meeting the needs of existing customers. Small emerging markets also do not address the "near-term growth and profit requirements of large companies". These companies are therefore great at managing sustaining technological changes but poor at handling disruptive technological change.
To manage disruptive technological change, therefore, Christensen asserts that managers need a fundamentally different approach - "discovery-driven planning", i.e. planning to learn vs planning to execute. Assume you don’t know anything for certain. Be clear what are the assumptions upon which your plans or objectives are based. Test these assumptions. This requires you to ensure that your strategy will allow you to make shifts and adjustments as necessary and that these shifts are not costly.
The most insightful chapters for me were Chapt 8 on "How to Appraise Your Organisation's Capabilities and Disabilities" and Chapt 10 on "Managing Disruptive Change: A Case Study". In Chapt 8, Christensen breaks down how managers can assess the ability of their organisation to manage different kinds of innovation by looking at (i) the kind of resources it has; (ii) the mechanisms/processes by which the organisation creates value, which is "intrinsically inimical to change" in order to ensure consistency; and (iii) the values of the organisation that employees use to make prioritisation decisions. Christensen notes that "the larger and more complex a company becomes, the more important it is for senior managers to make independent decisions about priorities that are consistent with the strategic direction and the business model of the company....[but these] clear, consistent and broadly understood values, however, also define what an organisation cannot do." Dealing with disruptive change therefore requires managers to create new capabilities, whether by acquiring an organisation whose processes and values match the new task (and keeping them separate from the existing organisation) or separating out an independent organisation and developing within it the new processes and values required.
In Chapt 10, Christensen takes us through a step-by-step guide of how he might hypothetically think about managing the potential disruption posed by electric vehicles, if he were a manager of an auto maker. First, assessing whether electric vehicles represent a disruptive change, based on whether their trajectory of improvement might some day make them a viable option for the mainstream market, i.e. will the trajectory intersect the trajectory of market demands. Second, finding a potential market for the vehicles, by getting out there and trying to sell the product to different kinds of customers to see what hooks. Third, having a strategy to learn (or rather, to fail, fail fast and try again). This entails conserving resources for multiple iterations, rather than putting all of one’s resources in designing the perfect product the first time round.
Although Christensen’s book looks at the commercial sector, you can apply the insights from the book to other domains, including the public sector. What might it mean for the public sector to manage disruptive change, in the way organisations and teams are set up and resourced? What might a strategy for learning mean in the context of designing public services and infrastructure? In IT for instance, might it entail a shift away from the “waterfall” method of designing infrastructure towards the agile methodology?
In the Innovator's Dilemma, Christensen argues that in some cases the reason why good, solid companies fail to stay ahead of the competition is not because they are incompetent, but because their structures/ processes/ incentives are all geared towards managing "sustaining technological change", as opposed to "disruptive technological change". When disruptive technologies emerge, the market for them is often not clear. The performance specs of these disruptive technologies do not meet the needs of companies' existing customers (e.g. in terms of capacity for disk drives) but have other attributes (e.g. physical size) that could potentially be of value to other (as yet undefined) markets. But in good companies, their processes are geared towards developing products that will meet the needs of their existing customers. Moreover, these firms are embedded in a larger "value network" that encompasses both customers and suppliers geared towards meeting the needs of existing customers. Small emerging markets also do not address the "near-term growth and profit requirements of large companies". These companies are therefore great at managing sustaining technological changes but poor at handling disruptive technological change.
To manage disruptive technological change, therefore, Christensen asserts that managers need a fundamentally different approach - "discovery-driven planning", i.e. planning to learn vs planning to execute. Assume you don’t know anything for certain. Be clear what are the assumptions upon which your plans or objectives are based. Test these assumptions. This requires you to ensure that your strategy will allow you to make shifts and adjustments as necessary and that these shifts are not costly.
The most insightful chapters for me were Chapt 8 on "How to Appraise Your Organisation's Capabilities and Disabilities" and Chapt 10 on "Managing Disruptive Change: A Case Study". In Chapt 8, Christensen breaks down how managers can assess the ability of their organisation to manage different kinds of innovation by looking at (i) the kind of resources it has; (ii) the mechanisms/processes by which the organisation creates value, which is "intrinsically inimical to change" in order to ensure consistency; and (iii) the values of the organisation that employees use to make prioritisation decisions. Christensen notes that "the larger and more complex a company becomes, the more important it is for senior managers to make independent decisions about priorities that are consistent with the strategic direction and the business model of the company....[but these] clear, consistent and broadly understood values, however, also define what an organisation cannot do." Dealing with disruptive change therefore requires managers to create new capabilities, whether by acquiring an organisation whose processes and values match the new task (and keeping them separate from the existing organisation) or separating out an independent organisation and developing within it the new processes and values required.
In Chapt 10, Christensen takes us through a step-by-step guide of how he might hypothetically think about managing the potential disruption posed by electric vehicles, if he were a manager of an auto maker. First, assessing whether electric vehicles represent a disruptive change, based on whether their trajectory of improvement might some day make them a viable option for the mainstream market, i.e. will the trajectory intersect the trajectory of market demands. Second, finding a potential market for the vehicles, by getting out there and trying to sell the product to different kinds of customers to see what hooks. Third, having a strategy to learn (or rather, to fail, fail fast and try again). This entails conserving resources for multiple iterations, rather than putting all of one’s resources in designing the perfect product the first time round.
Although Christensen’s book looks at the commercial sector, you can apply the insights from the book to other domains, including the public sector. What might it mean for the public sector to manage disruptive change, in the way organisations and teams are set up and resourced? What might a strategy for learning mean in the context of designing public services and infrastructure? In IT for instance, might it entail a shift away from the “waterfall” method of designing infrastructure towards the agile methodology?
rtpg's review
4.0
The examples are somewhat dry ( a lot of talks on hard drives), and can be somewhat repetitive, but the core ideas are so fundamental to running a lasting business that this is a must-read.
deeparcher's review
3.0
This book has fascinating ideas, but you have to slog through the writing to get to them.
librarytech4's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a short read and explains why the author thinks some companies and products are successful and some are not. He goes into details about consumer needs and demands, as well as company needs in order to produce a product. A product being successful is dependent on both the company being able to make a profit margin they are comfortable with as well as a risk they are comfortable with; The consumer also needs to have a desire or want for the product, or needs to be convinced of that desire before they purchase it. Companies can’t just plan on consumers wanting the most cost effective or best product. Sometimes customers want a cheaper up front cost and are willing to pay more in upkeep. Inkjet printers are the example the author uses that demonstrates this.
The author focuses greatly on the technology industry, but I think this book could be helpful for any industry or product creation.
The author focuses greatly on the technology industry, but I think this book could be helpful for any industry or product creation.
bhsmith's review against another edition
1.0
The reason I bought this book: To be inspired by innovation and the promises of revolutionary change in the way my organization functions.
The way I feel having read this book: Disappointed to have spent so much time trying to find inspiration within these pages.
This reads much more like a research thesis than it does any sort of motivating or inspiring pep talk. And, while the research used to put together this book still serves to prove the assertions being made, do not be fooled that this book has been updated in any way since it was published in the mid-90s. The references to the disk drive industry are ignoring more than a decade of further changes and developments that sometimes support and sometimes break apart the arguments made in this book.
If this 250+ page book were about 200 pages shorter, it would have been worth reading. There are inspirational moments in here that let managers know it is OK to take risks and to veer from the normal industrial patterns of corporate growth. But, finding these small nuggets is really not worth slogging through the rest of this book.
The way I feel having read this book: Disappointed to have spent so much time trying to find inspiration within these pages.
This reads much more like a research thesis than it does any sort of motivating or inspiring pep talk. And, while the research used to put together this book still serves to prove the assertions being made, do not be fooled that this book has been updated in any way since it was published in the mid-90s. The references to the disk drive industry are ignoring more than a decade of further changes and developments that sometimes support and sometimes break apart the arguments made in this book.
If this 250+ page book were about 200 pages shorter, it would have been worth reading. There are inspirational moments in here that let managers know it is OK to take risks and to veer from the normal industrial patterns of corporate growth. But, finding these small nuggets is really not worth slogging through the rest of this book.