The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business

Front Cover
Harper Collins, 2003 - Business & Economics - 286 pages

In this revolutionary bestseller, Harvard professor Clayton M. Christensen says outstanding companies can do everything right and still lose their market leadership -- or worse, disappear completely. And he not only proves what he says, he tells others how to avoid a similar fate.

Focusing on "disruptive technology" -- the Honda Super Cub, Intel's 8088 processor, or the hydraulic excavator, for example -- Christensen shows why most companies miss "the next great wave." Whether in electronics or retailing, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know when to abandon traditional business practices. Using the lessons of successes and failures from leading companies, The Innovator's Dilemma presents a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation.

Find out:

  • When it is right not to listen to customers.
  • When to invest in developing lower-performance products that promise lower margins.
  • When to pursue small markets at the expense of seemingly
  • larger and more lucrative ones.

Sharp, cogent, and provocative, The Innovator's Dilemma is one of the most talked-about books of our time -- and one no savvy manager or entrepreneur should be without.

 

Contents

Value Networks and the Impetus to Innovate
33
Disruptive Technological Change in
69
What Goes Up Cant Go Down
93
Managing Disruptive Technological Change
111
Match the Size of the Organization to
139
Discovering New and Emerging Markets
165
How to Appraise Your Organizations
185
Performance Provided Market Demand
211
A Case Study
235
A Summary
257
Index
271
About the Author
287
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About the author (2003)

Clayton M. Christensen, an associate professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School, is the coauthor of numerous articles in journals such as Research Policy, Strategic Management Journal, Industrial and Corporate Change, Business History Review, and Harvard Business Review.