The Innovator's Dilemma

The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business Harper Business Essentials

Paperback, 320 pages

English language

Published Jan. 7, 2003 by Collins.

ISBN:
9780060521998
OCLC Number:
52889222
Goodreads:
2615

View on OpenLibrary

View on Inventaire

3 stars (3 reviews)

In his book, The Innovator's Dilemma [3], Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School describes a theory about how large, outstanding firms can fail "by doing everything right." The Innovator's Dilemma, according to Christensen, describes companies whose successes and capabilities can actually become obstacles in the face of changing markets and technologies. (Source)

This book takes the radical position that great companies can fail precisely because they do everything right. It demonstrates why outstanding companies that had their competitive antennae up, listened astutely to customers, and invested aggressively in new technologies still lost their market leadership when confronted with disruptive changes in technology and market structure. And it tells how to avoid a similar fate. Using the lessons of successes and failures of leading companies, The Innovator's Dilemma presents a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation. These principles will help managers determine when …

8 editions

An Organization is Not the People It's Made From

4 stars

A quick read, this short book is all about why big organizations fail to adapt to changing markets and technology. The book is rather old, so the references are fairly dated, but the concepts are still salient. Organizations and people are not the same thing, and knowing which people to assign to a task is just as important as knowing what organization to put them in.

Review of "The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Though I don't usually read business books, this one was fairly interesting. The thesis is that established, customer-focused companies are essentially helpless when confronted with a cheap, less-effective alternative. Because the interests of their customers force them to allocate resources towards maintaining and improving their current products, they can't muster the organizational will do develop and market lower-end products that don't meet their customers' needs. Christiansen points out a number of examples where these lower-end products repeatedly developed into larger markets and eventually displaced their higher-end competitors. The book was much longer than it needed to be, visiting and revisiting the same material many times, so I ended up skimming most of it.

Subjects

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Success in business
  • Economics - General
  • Creative ability in business
  • Business & Economics
  • Business / Economics / Finance
  • Management - General
  • Business/Economics
  • Industrial management
  • Economics - Theory
  • Business & Economics / Economics / General
  • Reading Group Guide
  • Development - Economic Development
  • Customer services