Overcoming Common Challenges to Disruptive Innovation

It has been nearly three decades since Clay Christensen first introduced the concepts of disruptive innovation in his classic HBR article, “Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave,” followed by his seminal book, The Innovator’s Dilemma . While he initially defined disruption as an innovation or new technology that comes in at the low end of an existing market at a lower price and with some performance tradeoffs, Christensen eventually broadened the concept to include innovations with the potential to create a new market or reinvent an existing one. Overcoming Common Challenges to Disruptive Innovation While the concepts of disruptive innovation are well established, startups and incumbents alike continue to struggle with becoming disruptors. This article explores four common challenges that trip up efforts and offers strategies for overcoming them. It has been nearly three decades since Clay Christensen first introduced the concepts of disruptive innovation in his classic HBR article, “Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave,” followed by his seminal book, The Innovator’s Dilemma . While he initially defined disruption as an innovation or new technology that comes in at the low end of an existing market at a lower price and with some performance tradeoffs, Christensen eventually broadened the concept to include innovations with the potential to create a new market or reinvent an existing one.