The Innovator's Dilemma

High-Level Thoughts

Innovation is both a resource allocation & marketing challenge. Truly disruptive technology creates new markets rather than competing against entrenched competition.

Summary Notes

Two kinds of technologies: disruptive and sustaining.

Being a first mover is an advantage when developing disruptive innovation, and indifferent when acting in an established market.

Disruptive technologies involve existing technology in a new architecture: tend to be simpler, cheaper, and more reliable.

Disruptive tech should be framed as a marketing challenge, not a tech one.

Market leaders can solve the innovator’s dilemma by acquiring or founding subsidiaries.

Innovation is a resource allocation problem. How to justify.

Companies succeed and fail for the same reasons. The only differentiation is when they are confronted with a disruptive technology.

Creating new markets is less risky and more rewarding than entering established markets against entrenched comp.

Identify disruptive tech by graphing performance demand in market vs. performance improvement supplied by tech.