My Disruptive Innovation: Introduction

Abstract

The term disruptive innovation was coined by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen in his seminal and path-breaking works to refer to “to “a process by which a product or service takes root in simple applications at the bottom of the market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors”. Due to diffusing from low end upward to high-end (also known as low-end encroachment) and because disruption is a process that takes time, incumbents often overlook disrupters (Glen & Cheryl, 2008). Forbes 2015 list of the 25 most disruptive brands also include Airbnb, Facebook, Red Bull, Snapchat, Alibaba, Netflix, Under Amour, Uber, Apple, Instagram, CVS, Taylor Swift, Google, Warby Parker, Chipotle, 72and Sunn,y, SoulCycle, Rent the Runway, Houzz, Waze, DraftKings, Coke, Eataly, Birchbox and Virgin America. Some characteristics to differentiate disruptors from innovators include: All disruptors are innovators but not all innovators are disruptors; innovators are rational whereas disruptors are irrational but still require organization in order to be a success.