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Interviews Professor Clayton Christensen, who has authored or co‐authored three groundbreaking books that together frame the daunting problems that managers must confront when…
Abstract
Purpose
Interviews Professor Clayton Christensen, who has authored or co‐authored three groundbreaking books that together frame the daunting problems that managers must confront when they lead innovation initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
Strategy & Leadership contributing editor, Dan Knight, asked Christensen about the finding of his research and its implications for managers.
Findings
Most managers are not familiar with Christensen's contention that leading companies fail after only a few decades at the head of the pack because they rely on two conventionally accepted concepts: listen to your best customers and focus investments on the products with high profit margins. Companies that pay exclusive attention to their current top customers and ignore the first minute signals of disruptive forces emerging in their market will not adopt innovation that will make them successful long‐term.
Research limitations/implications
Christensen alludes to his research methodology and suggest that it is superior to that of most observers of the innovation process. A comparative study would be valuable.
Practical implications
Christensen suggests that organizations segment their markets by “customer jobs to be done” in order to identify new growth opportunities. He explains why when you are growing, innovation proves to be a lot easier than when you stop growing. Another nugget: “being a serial disrupter means that on a regular and rhythmic basis you launch new disruptive innovations when you don't really need new growth.”
Originality/value
While all of Christensen theories have been explained in his books, many managers are likely still unfamiliar with the many practical implications of his unconventional wisdom. The interview serves as a lucid introduction to ideas like managing disruptive innovation.
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“Leveraging intellectual capital requires a company to become a knowledge‐based organization and to revise its performance measures accordingly.”
Jay L. Abraham and Daniel J. Knight
The explosion of growth in the new economy intensifies and exacerbates the need for performance management, yet many managers consistently fail to seriously support these efforts…
Abstract
The explosion of growth in the new economy intensifies and exacerbates the need for performance management, yet many managers consistently fail to seriously support these efforts because they focus on routine and stability in business. Strategic Innovation involves making knowledge creation and innovative action a way of life, seeking to create and expand markets rather than just reacting to customer demand, and redirecting resources from profitable but dwindling lines of business to support emerging lines that are potentially more profitable. The strategic innovation cycle contains five phases: generating – sharing knowledge and experience; conceptualizing – going from tacit to explicit knowledge; optimizing – evaluating to find the best answer; implementing – testing solutions and creating new knowledge, and capturing – codifying explicit knowledge and identifying gaps.
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This article provides insights on how organizations can succeed when managers make organic growth a paramount focus of their organization. Consultant and author Michael Treacy…
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This article provides insights on how organizations can succeed when managers make organic growth a paramount focus of their organization. Consultant and author Michael Treacy strongly believes that many organizations, not just a few industry leaders, can achieve double‐digit growth year after year, if they become as disciplined about growth as they are about cost‐cutting. From his research on the growth strategies of more than 130 companies, Treacy found that those with the fastest and most profitable growth took disciplined approaches to tapping five fundamental sources of revenue: retention of existing customers; market share gains; market positioning; penetration of adjacent markets; and investments in new lines of business. To create a strategy for double‐digit growth, management needs to begin by adopting a common language system based on the five disciplines of growth. To build the capability to execute that strategy, management needs to develop both the talent for growth and a management control system that tells them where they are, what the potential for growth is, where the gaps are and what the action steps are. Combining the two, managers have an agreed upon language system and the talent, information and controls to make growth happen.
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In this interview, the author of The Innovator’s Dilemma reviews his theory of how businesses are affected by disruptive technology. Most business leaders are aware of sustaining…
Abstract
In this interview, the author of The Innovator’s Dilemma reviews his theory of how businesses are affected by disruptive technology. Most business leaders are aware of sustaining technologies, which can be simple incremental improvements or radical, up‐market technology innovations that leap‐frog ahead of the competition. However, they tend to ignore disruptive technologies, which initially provide neither a better product nor acceptable margins. By ignoring disruptive technology, companies forfeit the opportunity to ensure long‐term growth and prosperity. Business leaders must help their organizations develop new business models that utilize the disruptive technologies if they are to survive and evolve over time.