Accounting for Disruptive Technologies
There is a significant amount of insight found in Christensen and Overdorf's "Meeting the challenge of disruptive change," especially for those in a managerial position or studying to be in such a position. The article is useful because it combines theoretical knowledge with a solid application of real-world examples, so that the reader is best able to grasp the author's concepts. Moreover, the article takes a wide and integrative approach at addressing the various challenges and potential solutions organizations can implement pertaining to a very real facet of conducting business in the 21st century, "disruptive changes," typically in the form of technological innovations.
Quite frankly, however, a number of points that the authors make are trenchant and can aid those who are looking to prevent disruptive change from ruining their organization or its method of conducting business. One of the more notable of these is the fact that there are three different factors organizations should take account of as they relate to its ability to remain agile in the face of such upstart changes. The authors have codified these factors according to organizational values, processes, and resources. What is most telling about these three factors is that they play a significant...
Most people tend to believe that acquiring more business, employees and clientele is unequivocally a positive aspect of business, but the authors examine this phenomenon from critically and reveal that "one of the bittersweet results of success…is…companies…lose the ability to enter small, emerging markets." This sort of insight characterizes this article as a whole, and makes it a worthwhile read.
There are a number of different reasons why I found the article netitled "Disruptive technologies: catching the wave" by Bower and Christensen to provide significantly less utility than the aforementioned article did. Firstly, it was written nearly 20 years ago (though, to be fair, the other was written 15 years ago). Still, the antiquated nature of this article affected a number of its examples and made some of its points that were not contingent on time much less valuable. The authors make a point of comparing "minicomputers" to desktop computers -- in an…
