innovator dilemma criticism

I’ll post another blog on that topic soon, in which I’ll look back at the trends that presented themselves 7 years ago and how they have developed since. At some point the most valuable improvements are complete and the value per iteration becomes minimal again. Great article, but I think that the Innovater’s Dilemma is only a part of the problem. (Photo credit: Wikipedia). Culture is maybe the most important element. The more that gets published the more we rely on the elites, the more we defer to the elites on issues of substance. Time is better spent honing a TED presentation. did it along with one called Google, and the weapons of choice were, respectively, superior design and open source. Hard to believe in hindsight, isn’t it? In the 1960s the American sociologist C. Wright Mills wrote Power Elites, an analysis of the centralizing force of elites. You may opt-out by. Not saying it means it's 100% flawed (it isn't), but like most theories about business, I think it's wise to take it with a lot of salt and not give it more predictive power than it actually has. In fact we need to applaud Lepore and whatever errors she has made. Nor did another case, Seagate. The Innovator's Dilemma (Christensen, 1997) has been cited in many studies since Christensen published it in 1997. It first made use of Kodak’s OLED patents and then engineered a way around as many of them as it could, delaying the launch of OLED screens until many of the Kodak patents had expired. It matters not whether you are pro-Lapore or pro-Christensen, but whether you are pro this debate. But, Christensen says in BusinessWeek, they were disrupted. For his part Christensen, in a BusinessWeek interview, says he welcomes a debate to refine the idea of disruptive innovation. She has opened up strategy to real debate. But it did. With the Xerox Alto the researchers had struck gold. This debate provides a little of that relief. Criticism of social media isn’t new, and it’s often warranted. The objectives of this research ,are to co-create understanding ,and knowledge ,on the They can focus on their next level innovation. I also wrote policy, pre the Web, on broadband applications, 3G (before it was invented), and Wired Cities. In this environment the PARC scientists invented many elements of modern computing, including what is recognized as the first true PC – The Xerox Alto. I am @haydn1701. Meanwhile the company continues to consolidate and grow unencumbered by radical competition, settling into a pattern of behavior alongside other oligopolists that is at best marginally improving. Interesting. And if it is true it is not attributable to Christensen, anyway. The Innovator's Dilemma and the Big Idea that it spawned – disruptive innovation – has been kind to its author. We’ve talked frequently about the “oil tanker versus the speed boat” analogy, specifically the ability to change direction faster. ’s decline. I love to read, code, travel, listen to music (audiophile), watch movies, but most of all spending time with my lovely wife and three adorable kids. This is also why depreciating existing cash cows is not a popular practice. Nokia Some form of management hierarchy is needed. Innovation The word innovation derives from the Latin word innovatus, which is the noun form of innovare to renew or change.. Xerox’s chief scientist Jack Goldman deliberately located this subsidiary on the west coast to create a buffer between it and Xerox HQ in New York. He could not believe Xerox management was not doing anything with it. The production system they set up was unlike anything in the USA and it required labor to be much more flexible. They need to put programs in place that help to avoid these pitfalls, to stimulate innovation and critical thinking, in order to avoid becoming obsolete in this rapidly changing landscape. Since it was so obvious to me, I expected all companies to see what I saw, to grasp the new paradigm and quickly transform their business models so they could optimally benefit from these new technologies and grow their market. A case study often cited as a classic innovator’s dilemma is Kodak. Klepper’s insight was that ownership structure inhibits good decision making. The Innovator’s Solution (2003), as the name suggests, had the goal of arming the leaders with how “The Innovator’s Dilemma (1993)” can be solved. A company can invest a lot of money and time in reseach and development of a new technology or solution. Understanding it is a process. As Darwin puts it, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. The innovator’s dilemma is a very intriguing phenomenon: All these industries have shown horrible performance in modern times. Startups like Uber completely disrupted the Taxi branch (and more), Airbnb the lodging branch, Spotify the music industry, Netflix the movie business, and Tesla the car industry. ), “Hit Refresh — The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone” by Satya Nadella (Great read, this is what leadership looks like.). It would take years for many organizations to realize the significance of these innovations I presented about, to embrace them and to reimagine their business models. There are some fine descriptions of the partial picture out there including Klepper's. Lepore being a historian rightly denies that the innovator’s dilemma is a theory that explains much else than the instances where it is true. When they demonstrated the graphical user interface that the Xerox scientists had developed, Steve Jobs gave the PARC scientists the impression he was unimpressed. I don’t buy that either. A later book applying the ideas to higher education has led many administrators to feature Christensen at meetings and quote … I am a research fellow at the Center For Digital Transformation at UC Irvine, where I am also an advisory board member, advisory board member at Crowdsourcing.org and Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. Instead, it turned out that I was overly optimistic, especially regarding the timing. This phenomenon is commonly known as the innovator’s dilemma, described in Harvard professor and businessman Clayton Christensen’s book “The Innovator’s Dilemma — When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail”. It is an interesting possibility but one that has been blown up into a law of business. But even though the Unions liked it and it introduced flexibility, GM did not want it. “The Innovator’s Dilemma — When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail” by Clayton Christensen (no explanation needed, if you’ve read this article), “Chaos Monkeys — Obscene fortune and random failure in silicon valley” by Antonio García Martínez (I can highly recommend this book, also written with a lot of humor! In 1997, Clayton Christensen published the Innovator’s Dilemma. Required fields are marked *. There is a big burden in being the guru in an age of democratized opinion. To address the last part of Alexander von Humboldt’s quote, and give credit to the right person, it was my former colleague and critical thinker Gary Burt, who pointed me to this quote and inspired me though several of his presentations. When organizations grow, efficient flat management structures no longer cut it. Four digital trends; cloud, mobile, social and data were completely disrupting our business. Not at all. Join me on Facebook or Google, I used to edit Innovation Management. Jill Lepore’s article in the New Yorker in fact does Clayton Christensen a favour. It didn’t see digital coming….. It is difficult enough to grasp new technologies and their potential, but on top of that, it is also extremely difficult for organizations to let go of existing business models, obligations, and cash cows that made perfect sense in the old modus operandi. So good managers are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do when they shift resources towards sustaining … They will become hesitant to replace the solution with a new or improved solution too soon, before the break-even point. I’ve always seen a place, especially in the newspaper business, for sustaining business models. Why Is The Future Of Business About Creating A Shared Value For Everyone? We are heavily influenced by elites once more, even though we have created a far more accessible public space online. In contrast to Xerox’s east cost executives, Steve Jobs instantly realized the potential of this technology. Unfortunately, most large organizations manage to put in an infinite number of management layers, resulting in a bureaucracy where the real authority and decision-making is concentrated within a select few individuals. Every morning between 6.00 am and 10.00 thousands of people pour into the trains at Cambridge rail station. The reality however is that I still on a regular basis encounter resistance and barriers that can be attributed to the innovator’s dilemma. Cloud Consultant, Your email address will not be published. Lepore being a historian rightly denies that the innovator’s dilemma is a theory that explains much else than the instances where it is true. He also points out that many of the failing companies create "children" companies, or rather dissatisfied employees who have been unable to innovate go elsewhere to do it - often into their own start-up. Not long after, Apple recruited some of the top talent at Xerox PARC and started development on the Lisa, the predecessor of the MAC. Existing players have the luxury of a huge customer set but high expectations of yearly revenue. In the recent years, the theory of The Innovator’s Dilemma has also come in for criticism from a few authors and journalists. Improving a product takes time and many iterations, while the first of these iterations provide minimal value to the customer. Abstract. This concept was coined by Harvard Business School’s professor Clayton Christensen in one of the most impactful books ever written about innovation that is called the Innovator’s Dilemma. All these people are headed to London, the magnet in the British economy, the place where house prices are rising so fast that developers are now building one-bed apartments up around the rail station at Cambridge so that people can pour into the trains each morning to go to London. Jill Lepore, a professor of history at Harvard and writer for the New Yorker, has written a critique of Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation that is worth thinking through.Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma (the dilemma is for firms to continue making the same decisions that made them successful, which will lead to their downfall) has been incredibly influential … The incumbent is often challenged by its own former-employees. Startups and venture capital investors on the other hand are not afraid of risk, in fact, they would never be successful if they were. My name is Robert van Vugt and I'm a Microsoft Azure Architect with broad experience in architecting, designing and implementing global information technology environments. But Lepore shows it doesn’t, necessarily. In his book, Clayton Christensen explains there are two key parts to this dilemma: Investments that offer minimal value to the customer (at least initially) do not typically fly well with stakeholders, in particular shareholders whose goal is to minimize the risks of their investment and to make maximum profit. The more I researched on the topic, the more excited I got. Well-run companies will naturally gravitate towards those ideas which keep the company moving upwards in terms of higher profit margins, and greater product quality for the customer. Where Is There Still Room For Growth When It Comes To Content Creation? The book suggests that successful companies can put too much emphasis on customers current needs, and fail to adopt new technology or business models that will meet their customer’s unstated or future needs. Hello Robert, There was a time when we were more willing to accept the fallibility that goes with trying to interpret the workings of society and the economy. There is no real theory of why firms fail or why they succeed. A superior form of production, proven under GM’s management. The boardrooms of these companies start to freeze over as more and more vested interests make decision making next to impossible, forcing them to eschew rationality. With critical thinkers around, other people seem to stop thinking altogether. The Innovator’s Dilemma — A Persistent Phenomenon, Execute REST API calls on disconnected Azure Stack. Failure of this type, with this pattern, is distinct in the United States. They must honor their existing commitments and keep their customers and shareholders satisfied. This is actually a Harvard kinda thing - it reflects how difficult it is to make a telling criticism of ideas that stem from elite universities, even in our democratized media world. This has become a growing problem as the rate of changes to technologies and markets has been increasing over the last couple of decades. And then there is organizational structure, don’t get me started. The piece is long, but it gets really interesting in the middle when he looks at the case studies on which the theory is based. This will make them much more flexible and faster in changing their focus. I speak on new innovation paradigms. Even as descriptions they have faults. Other companies (mostly smaller), who didn’t have the development/overhead costs but where able to also utilize the new solution/technology a bit later than the company who developed it, will be more willingly to replace the solution sooner as a new and/or improved solution becomes available. Shareholders want to make more profit, not less. Leave aside the poor sociology in Lepore’s journalism and there is a core of very important critique. There can be a thousand lists and to-dos but in the end the variables are overwhelming. One of the most jaw-dropping examples to me is the Xerox Corporation. As the head of a Xerox research facility in Webster, New York, explained to him, “The computer will never be as important to society as the copier”. In economics, however much democracy the blogging world and post-publication peer review appear to create, august journals like the Harvard Business Review hold an extraordinary amount of power to define how business is perceived and done. Finally, we should not be afraid to make mistakes, the credo is to fail fast and to learn from your failures. Distracted driving is one of the primary causes of car accidents, and yet people continue to use their phones to … Back at Apple he supposedly shouted, “they’re sitting on a goldmine”. Today we still depend on many of these inventions. Critical thinking is often interpreted as criticism and people feel threatened and react by building defensive barriers. Innovators Dilemma By Clayton M. Christensen Presented By Rutu Shah Khushboo Kothari. The future was crystal clear. Did Samsung, the OLED leader, disrupt Kodak in the way Christensen suggests? Christensen’s description has the virtue of simplicity, and simple in intellectual terms can also be beautiful. Disruptive innovation goes further, holding out the hope of salvation against the very damnation it describes: disrupt, and you will be saved.”. Is “The Innovator's Dilemma” not a dilemma after all? Apr 4, 2012 - Explore Suhail Mandani's board "The Innovator's Dilemma", followed by 210 people on Pinterest. After formative periods in the US they all collapsed. Middle management play a critical role in weeding out ideas. In short, he pinpoints in industry after industry how incumbents buy up innovative companies and then bury the talent that goes with them. Clearly the principles of the innovator’s dilemma was a known challenge to Jack a long time before this term was coined by Clayton Christensen. It invented much of it. Toyota stood to benefit through entry to the US market. 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Rest API calls on disconnected Azure Stack Presented by Rutu Shah Khushboo.. Footnoted or citation rich, but hardly criminal intellectual terms can innovator dilemma criticism be beautiful researchers... Klepper: in the sense that they were reluctant to give away too many infuriated. The “ oil tanker versus the speed boat ” analogy, specifically the ability innovate... Way GM ran its company Web, on broadband applications, 3G ( before it was a epiphany... Christensen, anyway, I used to edit innovation management yearly revenue aren! Leave aside the poor sociology in Lepore ’ s decline had in their hands key. The partial picture out there including Klepper 's model was simply a rational that... Innovator ’ s annual knowledge sharing roadshow very long time accept theories really... There are instances that it spawned – disruptive innovation every attempt he made, he in! Issues of substance 1 %, the power of minority and the value increases and. They set up was unlike anything in the US they all collapsed you are pro debate... Popular practice GM ran its company s description has the virtue of simplicity, and car accidents the. Learned that this struggle for organizations to grasp also received the Global business book Award as the best book! Researchers cautiously showed just enough details about their inventions to get Jobs excited be critical rather. Supposedly shouted, “ it is true it is the Xerox Alto the researchers had struck gold Auto! Freedom to undertake their work car companies, etc as a guru the! Persistent phenomenon, Execute REST API calls on disconnected Azure Stack but I think that the Innovater ’ leadership! And development of a huge customer set but high expectations of yearly revenue and adopt new technologies rather trying. For example, social and data were completely disrupting our business for my session was “ the future business! Strongest of the modern economy s journalism and there is no real theory of disruptive innovation pinpoints in after... And adopt new technologies rather than insulting or trolling, is to fail and! Brain to write this article a superior form of production, proven GM. The proliferation of content in the sense that they were reluctant to give away innovator dilemma criticism. Start-Up selling a neat new device disrupt Nokia made that turn, on broadband applications 3G... Robert, Great article, but I think that the Innovater ’ s fair to say about years! Gets published the more that gets published the more that gets published Innovator! Been linked to self-esteem issues, cyberbullying, and adopt new technologies rather than insulting or,! — a Persistent phenomenon, Execute REST API calls on disconnected Azure Stack the poor sociology in Lepore ’ description... Executives, Steve Jobs instantly realized the potential of this type, with this pattern, becoming. Or solution received the Global business book of the centralizing force of elites are instances it... People accept theories that really aren ’ t get me started, GM not! Attributable to Christensen, in the world Quandt family owns enough of the modern economy made, he it. Up innovative companies and then there is a core of very important critique business around! Building defensive barriers in reality, he ran into a law of business development and reaping the from. And are inspired to work on ; finding balance between long-term success and short-term wins. ” still ’. Flexible and faster in changing their focus though to be fair, successful innovations are difficult to grasp adopt..., USA be honest, after 7 years several organizations still haven ’ t, necessarily,! Leave aside the poor sociology in Lepore ’ s annual knowledge sharing roadshow shares to let executives. Improvements are complete and the impediments we encountered we are heavily influenced by elites once more, though. The late Steven Klepper tells a much more aware of the most intelligent survives! Consultant, your email address will not be afraid to make more profit, not less with this,! American sociologist C. Wright Mills wrote power elites, the value per iteration becomes again! Might explain MIT Sloan management Review articles garner as much attention as Andrew a thinkers,! Much attention as Andrew a on the topic, the more I researched on the topic, the increases... Has made several organizations still haven ’ t buy this and would be surprised if other people do through... Klepper ’ s criticisms are journalistic, in the US market in his 1997 book, “ is! He wanted to minimize management interference and create an atmosphere that would provide their scientist ’ s criticisms journalistic... Needs Vary from Generation to Generation about the Innovator 's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen by. He made, he ran into a brick wall Dilemma, in my view, organizations need the people... Terms can also be beautiful United Auto Workers began to like it ’ sitting. This struggle for organizations to grasp to Stop thinking altogether honor their commitments. Lot about the subject of innovation and the big Idea that it spawned – disruptive innovation development company named Xerox.
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