- Christensen discusses how innovators can overcome the hurdles presented in his earlier work The Innovator’s Dilemma.
- Explain how innovation, in theory, is a repeatable process, although no organization has succeeded.
- It tries to debunk the notion of a perfect formula for innovation and instead looks at successful elements of processes that span multiple companies.
Following up on his successful book The Innovator’s Dilemma, in which he criticized organizations for trusting their customers too much, Christensen attempts to reveal the solution to this problem. With the help of Deloitte consultant and alumnus Michael Raynor, he explains how large companies can avoid being overshadowed by disruptive innovation from smaller, more agile companies.
Highlighting the point that companies tend to face slower growth rates as they become more established, the authors study case studies from hundreds of different organizations to arrive at nine key areas that are necessary for growth. These include financing, product development, organizational structure, and financing.
Innovator’s solution can be seen as a trap to help companies find the right combination of factors that can lead to continuous and repeatable innovation, a trait that is alarmingly fleeting in today’s business. In fact, the authors admit that there are no current examples of established companies that have sustained sustained disruptive innovation.
Furthermore, many organizations that have achieved disruptive innovation bursts have relied on the direction of a single leader (for example, Steve Jobs at Apple). With that said, the content of The Innovator’s Solution is not mere conjecture. Instead, it is the result of careful study of successful companies throughout history by two of the brightest minds in business and innovation today and anyone with the slightest interest in business.
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