The Innovator's Dilemma

  • Two kinds of technologies: disruptive and sustaining.
  • Being a first mover is an advantage when developing disruptive innovation, and indifferent when acting in an established market.
  • Disruptive technologies involve existing technology in a new architecture — tend to be simpler, cheaper, and more reliable.
  • Disruptive tech should be framed as a marketing challenge, not a tech one.
  • Market leaders can solve the innovator's dilemma by acquiring or founding subsidiaries.
  • Innovation is a resource allocation problem. How to justify.
  • Companies succeed and fail for the same reasons. The only differentiation is when they are confronted with a disruptive technology.
  • Creating new markets is less risky and more rewarding than entering established markets against entrenched competitors.
  • Identify disruptive tech by graphing performance demand in the market vs. performance improvement supplied by the technology.