A renowned Harvard University Professor – Clayton Christensen, who first coined the term “Disruptive Innovation”, wrote in his book “The Innovator’s Dilemma” identified the 5 key reasons as follow:
1. Lack of the right culture within the company
2. Too focussed on their current mainstream customers’ needs
3. Lack of urgency to pursue disruptive innovative business model
4. Fear of failure as it would blemish one’s track record
5. Lack of the right mindset as the decision making is based on the perspective of its existing operations.
Then what can established companies do to tackle disruptive innovations?
They could:
- Acquire a different organisation whose processes and values are a close match with the new innovative business.
- Try to change the processes and values of the current organisation.
The video below summarises Christensen’s book, which is a highly recommended must-read for companies looking at pursuing disruptive innovations.