Rating: 
Summary: Great Book About Business Strategies, Must Read for Managers
Review: Comment: This review is done as a class project for the San Jose State University MBA e-commerce course by Ji Luo.Dr. Christensen's book offered me a fresh perspective into looking at how large established business failed. As the author explained it, the standard process that governs sound management could be the same one that destroys the company. I found his use of graphics and quantities data sufficient as well as very useful in understand concepts such as the S-curve and the value networks. The detailed analysis shows that the author has done quite a bit of research into the topic and that makes the data more credible to me. His writing style is very easy to understand and organized. First few chapters go into how disruptive technology can destroy a company if not harnessed. His later chapters list guidelines on how to avoid the pitfalls. These guidelines are followed thoroughly by many case studies and quotes from industry leaders. While company's policies shouldn't be based on a few guidelines and the situations in a person's particular industry may find the guidelines hard to follow, the author's particular views are irrefutable and should at least be considered by the managers. It's really exciting to see him link the same principles to so many varying industries from high tech to low tech. The overarching principle of sustaining technology and disruptive technology and how a company should embrace it could be applied to any large established industry. People who are interested in the business world should read this book and should especially be read by top managers in large corporation because many of them are ultimately responsible for success or failure of implementing disruptive technology. However, this is not a perfect book. I am a bit skeptical as to whether these rules apply to medium sized companies or companies with low margins. Therefore, my opinion is that the guidelines listed here really only applies to large organization with a lot of resources to divide. Also, The author sometimes repeat his points more than he should. He tends to concentrate so much on the hard disk drive industry that he left less room to get into deeper analysis into other industries. Overall, I think this is a great read for anyone interested in business and wondered about how large companies such as Montgomery Wards could go belly-up or why Digital Corporation disappeared from our vocabulary.
Rating: 
Summary: Provocative, Cogent and Right on Track
Review: Here's a book that comes right out and states that even the best-managed companies, with all their investment in the latest technologies and attention to customer care, are susceptible to failure. It doesn't matter what the industry, be it high technology or retailing, this susceptibility exists. Author Christensen's book presents a set of rules that defy convention on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation, using the real-world lessons of successes and failures of leading companies today. The innovator's dilemma is this: when does one apply the rules of disruptive innovation that goes so much head-to-head against the conventional wisdom? The author offers some good examples of disruptive technologies that helped to redefine the competitive landscape of their respective markets. He shows clearly that these products did not come about as the result of successful companies carrying out solid business practices in established markets. The case is made where these and other products cut into the bottom of the marketplace and evolved to displace competitors at the top end of their field, and displace their dominant technologies as well. Provocative and cogent, this is one of the most talked about business books of our time, and is one that belongs on every project manager's briefcase.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book for anyone . . . especially business students
Review: This was a fantastic book. I began reading it less than half way through the MBA program I am in and I was amazed at how many of the arguments others were making in class fell apart. This book helped me better analyze several aspects of many of my classes and I only wish I would have read it sooner. I continued on and read the Innovator's Solution, and while I thought it was also a good book, I got much more out of the Innovator's Dilemma, though I still recommend both of them.
Rating:
Summary: A road map for success and longevity, not market ownership
Review: Christensen articulates why good management and/or success can lead to failure. Similar to our discussions in class on business ecology, the stage of "becoming and institution" with no re-engineering or innovation can lead to death for an organization. This is the notion that Innovator's Dilemma captures and examines. It takes several companies and industries and looks at their history, their framework, their business decisions, and their management to identify what went wrong or what led to their decline. By finding a common thread related to a lack of innovation or, more specifically, an inability to focus on emerging technologies or opportunities based on a current focus on profit and current customer needs and product/service, organizations prevent themselves from or avoid looking to the future. It also becomes challenging to look at the futures because the immediate profit margin may not rational from a business standpoint and there is not enough data on new markets to determine long-term ROI (return on investment). Thus the I never happens, let alone the R. This book made a nice companion to our reading and discussions in the Pepperdine doctoral program in educational technology. As we look at future thinking, business ecology, leadership, effective management strategies, and technologies as part of the larger educational leadership and technology picture, this book gave some key insight into tangible examples of business practices that are vital for success. It also became evident that there are consistencies in business through the years, but that real challenges come with progress and change. The ability for "thinking in the future tense" (another recommended book in the program) and to be adaptive may be the new foundation for business ecology. It may shift from waiting until the need arises to re-engineer and simply infuse this into business acumen as a constant. Going beyond trying to improve products, or coming up with a new marketing approach, organizations need to be aware of entirely new markets and products. This gets tricky, but this book lays out some principals to aid an organization or leader in shifting their approach. It also helps widen perspectives and an organization's view. I found it interesting reading and insightful (while also easy to read and follow), but not a comprehensive guide to market ownership. There are many key factors in staying competitive and ahead--this book offers one and does it with analytical and tangible examples.
Rating:
Summary: A "must own" for managers and business executives
Review: This is the best book on strategy I have ever read (and I've read a few in my time). In his book, "The Innovator's Dilemma", Clayton M. Christensen, business professor at Harvard, explains why established firms fail, more often than none, when confronted with disruptive technologies. Disruptive technology is different from radical innovation. Such technology initially proposes attributes that are not valued by current, mainstream customers. The technology is initially attractive to a small market segment -- making it unattractive for larger firms. Therefore lies the innovator's dillema: how to allocate resources to developing a technology that will target a smaller market and at lower margins. Thoughout his book, Mr. Christensen develops a framework for managers and executives (also valid and valuable for consultants and analysts) to be able to resolve this dillema. If you are to read only one book on business this year, the Innovator's Dillema should be it. The reviewer is a certified management consultant and earned his MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and completed the Wharton School Multinational Marketing and Management Program. He is also a Professional Engineer and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering from the University of Toronto.
Rating:
Summary: Driven by disks
Review: Clay Christensen combines the science of empirical research with the art of organizational behavior in his best-selling "The Innovator's Dilemma." The book provides tangible advice on how to foster innovation within a corporate environment. His case studies draw from the successes and failures of American companies within numerous industries (disk drives, excavators, motorcycles, software). Christensen's strong points include a creative presentation of data, lucid writing and frank admission that the advice in his book is not a one-size-fits-all panacea for management challenges. But a heads-up to readers: perhaps 50% of the book centers on the disk-drive manufacturing industry. Although the lessons learned in hard drives are interesting, a more balanced approach would have been welcome. "The Innovators Dilemma" is a well written management how-to, in the same league as classics by Peters or Hammer. The book seems to be written for managers in large organizations, but entrepreneurs will probably find the material just as beneficial.
Rating:
Summary: Disruptive technologies create a threat to large companies
Review: This is a book is about successful, well-led companies -often market leaders- that carefully pay attention to what customers need and that invest heavily in new technologies, but still loose their market leadership suddenly. This can happen when disruptive technologies enter the stage. Most technologies improve the performance of existing products in relation to the criteria which existing customers have always used. These technologies are called sustaining technologies. Disruptive technologies do something different. They create an entirely new value proposition. They improve the performance of the product in relation to new performance criteria. Products which are based on disruptive technologies are often smaller, cheaper, simpler, and easier to use. However, the moment they are introduced, they can not at once compete against the traditional products and so they cannot directly reach a big market. Christensen researched how disruptive technologies have developed in the computer disk industry, an extremely rapid evolving industry. He identified six steps in the emergence of disruptive technologies: 1. Disruptive technologies often are invented in traditional large companies. Example: at Seagate Technology, the biggest producer of 5,25 disks, engineers in 1985 designed the first 3,5 disk. 2. The marketing department examines first reactions from important customers to the new technology. Then they notice that existing customers are not very interested and they conclude that not a lot of money can be made with the new product. Example: this is what happened at Seagate. The 3,5 disk's were put upon the shelf. 3. The company keeps on investing in the traditional technology. Performance improvement of the traditional technology is highly appreciated by existing customers and a lot of money is being made. Example: Seagate invested in the 5,25 disk technology. This led to considerable improvement of the technology and to a considerable improvement of sales. 4. New companies are started up (by ex-employees of the traditional companies) and markets for the new technology emerge by trial and error. Example: ex-Seagate people started up Corner Peripherals. This company focused on the small emerging market for 3,5 inch disks. In the beginning this was only for the laptop market. 5. The new players move up in the market. The performance of the new technologies gets better after some time, enabling them to compete better and better with the traditional companies and products. Example: the performance of the 3,5 disks improved drastically. The 3,5 inch disk moved up in the market, to the personal computer market. Corner pushed Seagate out of the PC market for 3,5 inch disk drives. 6. Traditional companies try to defend their market position and to get along in the new market. Often they notice that they have fallen behind so far, that they cannot keep up. Example: Seagate did not succeed in capturing a significant part of the new market for 3,5 inch disk drives for PC's. The events described above can be understood by the four principles of disruptive technologies which Christensen formulates: 1. In well-led companies it is customers, not managers, who actually determine resources allocation. This is a proposition of the resources dependence theory (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978) which is supported strongly by the research of Christensen. In essence: middle managers will not tend to invest in technologies that are not directly appreciated by important (large) clients, because they will not be able to get quick financial gains by doing this. 2. Small markets can not fulfil the growth need of large companies. For several reasons, growth is important for companies. Unfortunately, the bigger the company, the harder it is to continue growth. A small company (40 million sales) with a growth target of 20%, must achieve 8 million extra sales. A large company (4 billion sales), has to achieve 800 million of extra sales! Emerging markets often simply are not large enough to fulfil such growth needs. They can, however, fulfil the growth needs of new small companies. 3. Markets that do not exist can not be analysed. The ultimate applications of disruptive technologies can not be foreseen on forehand. Failure is an intrinsic unavoidable step to success. 4. Technology supply does not always equal the market demand. The speed of technological progress is often bigger than the speed with which the customer demand develops. By improving the performance of the disruptive technologies (for instance the 3,5 inch disks, first only used in the laptop market), they became suitable for the larger PC-market. These steps explain why traditional companies are often not capable of applying disruptive technologies. Christensen argues that you can not resist these four principles. What you can do however, is use them to your advantage. For instance: in a large company you can create an 'island' where the new technology is developed for the new market. Also it is possible get an ownership in emerging companies which develop the new technologies (several companies have done this successfully). I think the innovator's Dilemma is an excellent book. The ideas are empirically foudend and together they form a coherent theoretical framework. The examples from the computer disk industry, the steel industry and others, are very well-documented and interesting. The book is logically structured and reads easily.
Rating:
Summary: Fresh Perspective on How to Manage Technology Change
Review: Dr. Christensen's book offered me a fresh perspective into looking at how large established business failed. As the author explained it, the standard process that governs sound management could be the same one that destroys the company. I found his use of graphics and quantities data sufficient as well as very useful in understand concepts such as the S-curve and the value networks. The detailed analysis shows that the author has done quite a bit of research into the topic and that makes the data more credible to me. His writing style is very easy to understand and organized. First few chapters go into how disruptive technology can destroy a company if not harnessed. His later chapters list guidelines on how to avoid the pitfalls. These guidelines are followed thoroughly by many case studies and quotes from industry leaders. While company's policies shouldn't be based on a few guidelines and the situations in a person's particular industry may find the guidelines hard to follow, the author's particular views are irrefutable and should at least be considered by the managers. It's really exciting to see him link the same principles to so many varying industries from high tech to low tech. The overarching principle of sustaining technology and disruptive technology and how a company should embrace it could be applied to any large established industry. People who are interested in the business world should read this book and should especially be read by top managers in large corporation because many of them are ultimately responsible for success or failure of implementing disruptive technology. However, this is not a perfect book. I am a bit skeptical as to whether these rules apply to medium sized companies or companies with low margins. Therefore, my opinion is that the guidelines listed here really only applies to large organization with a lot of resources to divide. Also, The author sometimes repeat his points more than he should. He tends to concentrate so much on the hard disk drive industry that he left less room to get into deeper analysis into other industries. Overall, I think this is a great read for anyone interested in business and wondered about how large companies such as Montgomery Wards could go belly-up or why Digital Corporation disappeared from our vocabulary.
Rating:
Summary: Driven by disks
Review: Clay Christensen combines the science of empirical research with the art of organizational behavior in his best-selling "The Innovator's Dilemma." The book provides tangible advice on how to foster innovation within a corporate environment. His case studies draw from the successes and failures of American companies within numerous industries (disk drives, excavators, motorcycles, software). Christensen's strong points include a creative presentation of data, lucid writing and frank admission that the advice in his book is not a one-size-fits-all panacea for management challenges. But a heads-up to readers: perhaps 50% of the book centers on the disk-drive manufacturing industry. Although the lessons learned in hard drives are interesting, a more balanced approach would have been welcome. "The Innovators Dilemma" is a well written management how-to, in the same league as classics by Peters or Hammer. The book seems to be written for managers in large organizations, but entrepreneurs will probably find the material just as beneficial.
Rating:
Summary: MBA Postgrad. Curriculum for Successful Strategic Managers
Review: Christensen's presentation of technology and the distinct differences of the impact that a "disruptive" technological innovation on general business management processes is nothing less than profound. He hits on the idea that running a business, with a known market and customer base, has very specific tactical management techniques that need to be applied in order to be a market leader. He develops the notion that a disruptive technology which may eventually be utilized in an existing market should first be placed into the hands of adopters that may live outside the traditional market. This is a very eye opening read for anyone in an industry that experiences technological innovation. His analysis provides useful tools that are not adequately covered by traditional MBA course curricula. Some of these observations would lead managers to first stop and identify the type of technological innovation that they are attempting to manage and develop, specifically whether it is a market sustaining technological innovation or a disruptive technological innovation that is not yet mature enough to be attractive to the existing and well understood market. A true boot camp presentation for MBA graduates who desire to augment their skills in order to be successful in an era with short product lifecycles and perpetual emergence of applications for fresh and potential underdeveloped technologies.
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