Compare and contrast discontinuous change - Research Paper Example

Discontinuous Change in Business The discontinuous change in business is characterized by a sudden and non-incremental change which poses several risks for the sustenance of the power structure in a business. The traditional authority’s existence in business is threatened because the traditional systems and work mechanisms have been drastically altered. A discontinuous change “is shaped by external forces—technological, competitive and regulatory innovation or the decline and rise of whole industries and regional economies—that engineer a radical break with the past” (Noble, 1995).

Factors causing the discontinuous change in business can be grounded in different fields that may include but are not limited to politics, religion, technological advancement, and literacy rate. Discontinuous change affects family-businesses more as compared to other types of businesses primarily because the former are less formal in terms of system and organization, and accordingly less likely to increase the resources to help the business sustain as compared to the latter (Kumar, 2012). ExamplesEnd of the cinemas and entertainment industry in a region because of a strong religious movement, closure of projects started by the previous government by the new government after it takes the charge, drastic reduction in the scope of manual sewing and embroidery of clothing because of the use of machines for the same purposes, rapid decline in the market value of palmists and magicians with the rise of people’s belief in science and technology as a result of more education and improved literacy rate, and decline in the readership of books with the availability of online reading sources on the Internet.

References:Kumar, R. (2012, Feb. 21). Family Businesses and “Discontinuous Change”. Retrieved from http://www.campdenfb.com/article/family-businesses-and-discontinuous-change.Noble, B. P. (1995). Discontinuous Change: Leading Organizational Transformation. Retrieved from http://www.strategy-business.com/article/11761?gko=267ce.