Disruptive Innovation by Clayton Christensen - Essay Example

Article Summary Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Article Summary 3 Disruptive Innovation 3 Key Learning points 4 Relevant statement to the session 4 Critical Analysis 5 Practical Implications 7 Learning Reflections 8 References 9 Article Summary Disruptive Innovation Disruptive innovations article written by renowned author Clayton Christensen evaluates the role of disruptive innovation in companies and education systems. The author studied new and different kinds of technology that occasionally made its way into the industry. This kind of innovation is what they referred as disruptive technologies. The term was coined by the author and his partners since the technology was not a breakthrough improvement, but is result into a product that is fairly good, affordable, simple, and can be developed with normal application and improve later. Digital Equipment Corp. is given an example of a company that was widely admired allover the world. The success of the company was attributed to its top-notch management team. The collapse of the company in 1988 was again attributed to the top management who were unable to decipher the times. Many companies in the tech world went the Digital way-falling off the cliff. Companies in technology industry have to allow a simple model of product to exist before a higher model is implemented. Disruptive technology or innovations plays an important role in companies. The education sector is not spared of the influence of disruptive innovations. Disruption can be an incentive in accelerating the process change in education to achieve desired outcomes. Transformation in the education system requires the effort and initiative of leaders in the education systems. Consequently disruptive innovations are applied in many areas in the world. Key Learning points Principles of effective management, which are learnt at business school are responsible for planting seeds of majority of many company’s demise. Consequently the idea of innovation or the attempt of a company to create new growth businesses has acquired the label of risk and randomness. If not well anticipated disruptive innovations can end up killing the incumbent leadership. When disruptive innovations catch the leaders off guard they end up doing the wrong thing. Sophisticated technology has to be incorporated slowly by slowly into the existing technology to product good and affordable products. The current leaders in education are incorporating computers into the existing model instead of being used in a disruptive manner. In any new model of education, computers have to be applied in areas of non-consumption just the way Apple commenced selling computers as toys to people’s children since they could not afford minicomputers from Digital Equipment Corp. disruptive innovation in education comprises of online learning which would effectively penetrate other areas. Disruptive innovation in education commenced with virtual schools that took the form of virtual charter schools. Relevant statement to the session Principles of good management taught in many business schools are responsible for the demise of many companies. The concept of innovation has been associated with risk and randomness. From insightful study it has been seen that innovation does not have to be necessarily unpredictable if a good theory is followed. A trajectory of performance has to be followed in each market without thinking of enormous changes to current system of production. Like in the case of car companies there is improvement to their engines every year. The process of new product development can be gradual. Innovations can be simple improvement to existing models or dramatic breakthrough in technologies. Companies that take advantage of disruptive technologies gain a competitive edge over the others. Digital Equipment Corp. collapsed due to the management team ineptitude. Other companies that followed the trend included Hewlett-Packard, Data General, and Wang. Apple demonstrated how a company can improve its technology by taking advantage of a small window of opportunity in the market. Gradually, Apple dominated the technology world with improved products that had been introduced as toys to school children. Digital was also able to get out of the bottom of the market through focusing on the customer. Disruptive innovation is not limited to technology. Professional development and higher education have taken advantage of disruption in the education sector. Fundamental changes had not realized because of dogmatism. However, the trend has changed tremendously in the recent times. Preparedness for disaster has become a major area of discussion in the prevailing leadership. When schools are shut down, it is normally owing to natural or man-made disasters and learning a majority of students also shuts down. Online education provides an opportunity for continuity when teaching in a classroom set up is not an option. Whenever there is disruptive innovation, it curves with an S-curve pattern. This article is an eye opening to the relevant on how innovations can be used to turn around the fortunes of companies. The article provides an insight on the importance of taking advantage of disruptive technology to improve the performance of a company. It provides relevant managerial advice that can be applied in effectively value creation in the company. Critical Analysis In this article, the author has traced the origin of the term disruptive innovation and where he first used it. The article explains the importance of disruptive innovation and how a company can take advantage of disruptive innovation. Innovation does not have to be usually unpredictable if a good theory is followed. Each market is a curve that represents a trajectory improvement that customers can use. Companies producing automobiles produce improved and new engines every year without letting go of their application formula. Some of the innovations that assist companies to get up the trajectory are simple advances in engineering while others are dramatic breakthrough in technologies (Danneels, 2006). The effect of the both advances is the same in the market structure in the sustenance of the performance improvement of the trajectory as it. Companies which are leaders prior to the start of battles innovation sustenance are found on the top when the battles subside. It is understood from the article that complexities of new innovations are not relevant. If the goal of the innovation is to come up with a product which is improved and can sell for profits that are more attractive to the loyal customers, the firm will find a way of how do accomplish this. The coming of disruptive technologies is important for companies to develop advanced products that are affordable without relying on complexity of technology. Understanding of disruptive innovations has helped many companies to stay ahead of their competitors. Being a formidable force to reckon with in the market does not have to involve the discovery of totally new innovation. Improvement on the existing forms of application can lead to production of advanced products which can fetch more profits. Disruptive innovation is not limited to companies and tech industry alone, disruptive innovation has been very effective in the education sector. Efforts of reform in the sector of education have been there for along time. Despite increased effort, there has not been any significant transformation. Virtual schools have come to replace the role of brick and mortar schools where they were not applicable (Danneels, 2004). Many high schools in America do not offer advanced course labeled as anything above biology or geometry. Learning online has gained increased market where students do not pass in a course and have no resources to go through it again. Dropouts from schools have taken the chance of online learning to advance their education where they had previously failed. Students who failed have been given an opportunity to go through the course. Disaster preparedness is an important area that should be addressed by the education system. Access to higher education was previously very centralized before the coming of online learning. Online learning has provided a leeway for other people to pursue higher education. Many people can now have access to higher education which was hitherto limited to a few people. Consequently disruptive innovation does not have to be a totally new thing but an improvement on what is currently prevailing in the market. Practical Implications Traders and companies do not have to toil learning for a breakthrough innovation that will turn around the performance of the business. A gradual improvement on what is prevailing gives a boost to the quality of the anticipated product. Disruptive innovation is at work in many sectors of the society and the economy. It can be traced in the technology industry, education, and retail sector. Creative destructions refer to the effect of disruptive innovations as coined by Joseph Schumpeter who was an economist (Knopper, 2009). Chain stores have adopted the concept of disruptive innovation by introducing product lines that had not previously existed in their line operation. The department stores moved in the upper market where they focused on soft goods. With the absence of departmental stores in the hard goods market, it paved way for collapse of prices in the sector. Emergence of online retailing provided disruptive force to discount retail stores. Amazon is one example that illustrates advancement of online retailing as a disruptive technology. Education sector has to take advantage of disruptive innovation in the implementation of the much hyped transformation (Christensen, 2003). It is not easy to come up with a totally new thing without incorporating what is in existence. Doing business requires a creative mind that will ensure continuous improvement to the products and means of doing business. Being competitive does not necessarily mean coming up with a totally new way of doing things. Learning Reflections This article provides an insight of the running of companies and doing of business while paving way for development of new products. The importance of disruptive innovation is not limited to the technology world. I have learnt that it is not necessarily a totally new venture that can result in improvement of products in the organization. Disruptive innovation can be applied in many areas including technology, education, economy, and production sectors. Disruptive innovations come up with changes that can cause some companies to collapse. Companies have to identify technological improvement that will give them competitive advantage in the market. I have also realized that management principles taught in business schools are not the key to success in companies. Companies that do not take advantage of any change in technology will always lag behind of fall out of the market. A product does not have to start in at the highest level of the market; it can begin at a lower level and gain entry to the high end market over time. Students who failed in certain course took advantage of emergence of online learning to further their education. Today people who have failed in some courses have an opportunity to pursue them again without attending brick and mortar. Access to higher education has been tremendously been boosted with the coming of online learning. Many people can now access education without having to travel. This article was very educative and an eye opener to any person with an entrepreneurial mind. References Knopper, S. (2009). Appetite for self-destruction: the spectacular crash of the record industry in the digital age. New York: Free Press. Danneels, E. (2006), From the Guest Editor: Dialogue on the Effects of Disruptive Technology on Firms and Industries, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 23 (1): 2-4. Danneels, E. (2004). Disruptive Technology reconsidered: A critique and research Agenda, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 21 (4): 246-258. Christensen, C. M. (2003). The innovator's solution: creating and sustaining successful growth. Harvard: Harvard Business Press. Read More