“The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton M. Christensen

Description

Clayton M. Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma, first published in 1997, is a seminal work in the field of innovation and corporate strategy. Drawing on detailed case studies, especially within the disk drive industry, Christensen offers a compelling explanation for a puzzling phenomenon: Why do well-managed, market-leading companies frequently fail when confronted by radical, disruptive innovations—even while seemingly doing everything “right”? The central argument revolves around what Christensen calls disruptive technologies (later refined as “disruptive innovations”) and the organizational constraints that prevent established firms from effectively pursuing them.

Christensen’s thesis is that good management practices—such as focusing on current customer needs, aiming for higher profit margins, and allocating resources to the most promising opportunities—paradoxically become liabilities when a disruptive innovation emerges. Such innovations typically enter the market with lower performance metrics (initially inferior for mainstream customers) but possess unique attributes—lower cost, simplicity, or convenience—that appeal to new or niche customer segments. Over time, these disruptive offerings improve in performance, eventually catching up to and surpassing mainstream needs. By then, large incumbents can be caught off-guard, often losing market share or failing outright.