Report on the Innovator's Dilemma - Book Report/Review Example

Early in the book, Christensen gives the example of Intel and the 8088 processor from the computer hardware industry to illustrate his point of view that plodding along the same vein will not always present the incremental results that firms want and desire. The important point is to continually keep our eyes, ears and minds open for innovative opportunities that will speed our path along the learning curve and produce enviable results. Key Concepts Christensen begins with the revelation that there is a reason behind the rise and fall of business empires and one of these reasons is the loss to comprehend the changes in markets and technology and respond to these in a timely fashion.

For example, he quotes that Sears and Roebuck has lost its market dominance after over 200 years of its existence, mainly due to the change in the discount model as adopted by Costco. In his opinion it is just because of incorrect or failed perceptions on the part of top management as to the future of the industry and the changes that must be made to accommodate these incorrect perceptions. For example IBM failed to acknowledge the importance and emergence of the micro or home computer industry until Microsoft had made its mark and even risen to some prominence.

In the same way, the Xerox Corporation gave away much of its market leadership to Japanese and local competitors who saw and responded to table top photocopiers. Christensen acknowledges that the management of firms at the top of their game might have backed the wrong horse or supported the wrong technological innovations- this being the reason they dropped out of prominence. He uses the term technology to refer to any process that transforms the raw ideas into finished products. Besides engineering and manufacturing, this would also include marketing, investment and managerial processes.

Innovation refers to a change in any one or more of these processes (Christensen, 2003, 15-17). In Part 1, or the first four chapters of the book, Christensen discusses what he calls the Innovators Dilemma, or why things go wrong. This is mainly due to lack of foresight and using the same age old tried and tested technologies when a new one is sweeping the market and causing a sea change or making great waves. Thus the same thing, only better or faster does not always work. In Part 2, comprising Chapters 5 to 10, he proceeds to explain how to resolve the situation.

This is mainly resolving to correct what the company and its people are doing wrong by not responding in the light of new ideas and technologies. They have to learn to adapt and change in the light of disruptive technologies or innovations. Even Apple owes its success to Steve Jobs reducing its product lines from 100 to 10 and then deciding to be the best in those 10 technologies in terms of both innovation and development- a feat he achieved in his lifetime. Application of Concepts to a Technology or Business Situation Christensen writes that there are two types of technologies prevalent in most industries-sustainable and disruptive.

Sustainable technologies refer to incremental improvements to products over time and over every subsequent innovation or new model. With the pace of market developments and needs, the desire or impetus to innovate sometimes produces lackluster or