The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

Several films in 2023, such as Flamin’ Hot, Blackberry, and Air, recount the ways in which different managers introduced iconic brands to the public consciousness. Choosing one of these films, discuss whether the protagonist(s) introduced a disruptive innovation into their industry, and trace its performance trajectory along the lines of Christensen’s framework.

Though The Innovator’s Dilemma was written in the 1990s, Christensen’s insights could still apply to today’s most popular industries. Analyze the social media industry through the lens of the value network framework. Which companies would be considered established firms in the current market hierarchy? Likewise, identify market entrants who could pose a threat to these companies.

Discuss whether larger economic events, like the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis, have an effect on the basic market forces that Christensen observes. If so, how does this impact managerial strategy within the value network?

Explore how non-profit organizations gather and allocate resources, and discuss whether these dynamics exclude them from being analyzed under Christensen’s framework.

Choose an object you consider a necessity in your daily living. Identify up to three ways you could sustain its current rate of performance, then hypothesize up to three disruptive features that would shift its performance trajectory.

Christensen often deploys comparisons to innovators to describe the ways in which managers should ideally study the forces that govern their industry to act more effectively within them. Flipping the comparison around, discuss how innovators can act more like managers to better foster experimentation, discovery, and application.

Christensen broadly defines innovation as a change in technology that enhances business processes. Does this definition apply to regressive changes in technology? To answer the question, suppose you are the manager who sees the opportunity to reintroduce vinyl records to the home entertainment market. Discuss the kind of market in which your product will create value, and describe the capabilities that must be developed to engage it. Alternatively, discuss the challenges that your firm would face.

Christensen encourages companies to be more open to failure. Identify a brand that successfully leveraged public failures to regain a market position, and discuss its strategy for recuperating.