Disruptive technologies : an expanded view

Abstract

The awareness of disruptive technologies and their potential effects on established firms was recently brought to the forefront of business thinking by Clayton Christensen in his book "The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail". While Christensen's work offers a fascinating view of technology change and the potentially lethal impact it may have on incumbent firms, his perspective on the contribution of technology change on product attributes and resultant firm disruption, appears, in my opinion, to be too limiting. The specific areas addressed by my thesis include: -- The expansion of Christensen's definition of disruptive technologies, -- An expanded understanding of the product attributes and subsequent competitive advantage that may result from the exploitation of an emerging technology, -- The role of market segmentation and technology interaction on the diffusion of an emerging technology and potential disruption of an incumbent technology, -- Inclusion of the potential for the down-market migration of products based on disruptive technologies in addition to the up-market scenario. The objective of my thesis is to broaden the spectrum of outcomes associated with technology change in order to help firms formulate a more comprehensive technology strategy. A framework for thought is provided regarding the potential outcomes of the exploitation of an emerging technology (possibly disruptive) in the context of product attributes and market influence in which the reader is encouraged to consider his or her own experiences.