Success begets success, so goes the saying. But based on the research of Clayton M. Christensen, a professor at the Harvard Business School and a renowned corporate strategist, nothing can be furthest from the truth. The more successful a company becomes, the more it will become a victim of its own success. First, the incentive of reform is low; if not nonexistent. Two, the managers and top corporate leaders would practically be laughing all the way to the bank. Why change something that is working?
Three, even if successful companies begin to fail, which they will, due to the arrival of disruptive technologies in “fast history”, according to “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” senior management will likely emphase traditional modes of intervention. These are tried and try modes such as better customer service, longer working hours, faster delivery and stronger after sales delivery. None of these measures, even when implemented wholeheartedly, can survive the onslaught of “disruptive technologies.”
The “Innovator’s Dilemma” speaks of the importance of change, but it must be a form of change that is sweeping, worthwhile, and comprehensive, without which nothing will work. In other words, even if a company is successful, with all the monopolistic advantages it possesses, it must be ready for all forms of internal and external revolutions. The bookis rife with examples and case studies of how some companies have made it and reached their pinnacles, in their own way, only to realize, perhaps too late, that their top-heavy pyramid is about to collapse on them.
The irony of “disruptive technologies,” is its seeming neutrality. There is no mention of how the arrival of China or India can transform cost advantage,s or revenue streams. Every disruption seems to come from better technology, although the author admits that better technology, at its incipient stage, may actually perform worse than the current products in the market. Thus, the inferior technological introduction, at first, will lull the competitor into a state of false confidence that competition is still light years away, when in fact it isn’t.