Disruptive Technologies - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Apr 2000
News

At Cyberposium, Amazon's Bezos Debunks Internet Myths

movie theaters did with the advent of television. Myth #2: There are no barriers to entry on the Internet. What about the huge sums, asked Bezos, that Amazon and other e-commerce companies invest in their businesses? Barriers to entry are actually getting higher in the... View Details

19 Sep 2016
News

A Streamlined Time Inc.

vice president of Time Inc. and president of brands, laid out his vision for a more efficient and innovative future for the 94-year-old media company: “There’s clearly some disruption going on in the marketplace and we’re making some... View Details

March 1998
Teaching Note

Electric Vehicles: Pipe Dream or Product of the Future? TN

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Teaching Note for (1-698-065). (A reprint not in this system). View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Information Technology; Performance; Auto Industry

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November 2022
Case

Para: Pay Transparency and Gig Drivers' Rights

By: Christopher Stanton and George Gonzalez

The case presents the founding vision and early days of a young startup that seeks to empower delivery drivers with tools and transparency. The company's flagship mobile app has been taken up by tens of thousands of delivery drivers across major U.S. cities who use it... View Details

Keywords: Gig Workers; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Applications and Software; Disruptive Innovation; Compensation and Benefits; Technology Industry; San Francisco

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01 Mar 2017
News

HBX: Reimagining HBS for the Digital Age

When considering how to enter the digital learning arena, HBS did what any startup would do. It began in 2012 by identifying a challenge: How to merge the unique elements of the HBS learning experience with the latest technology to create... View Details

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

More Than the Sum of Its Parts: The Impact of Modularity on the Computer Industry

whole system. In effect, each module was free to evolve along its own trajectory. By accommodating unforeseen, after-the-fact improvements, the modular approach unleashed value for the system as a whole. At the request of Working Knowledge, Dean Clark, an expert in... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Technology; Technology; Technology

01 Feb 2002
News

Health Industry Alumni Convene for Conference

analyses. Afternoon sessions included a presentation by HBS professor Clayton Christensen on disruptive technologies in health care; a panel, moderated by HBS professor Gary Pisano, on individually tailored... View Details

Keywords: Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

02 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?

good work they have done, many still find themselves in a precarious situation with weak returns on invested capital. José Alvarez: There are a few other things that make this an inflection point. One is the fact that technological... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

01 Jun 2017
News

Streamlining the Supermarket

whom he’d known since high school. They were equally intrigued. “We thought, why don’t we use that technology to disrupt the grocery industry by bringing the same type of efficiencies to the supermarket?”... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs

19 Nov 2019
Op-Ed

Gender Bias Complaints against Apple Card Signal a Dark Side to Fintech

Apple Card marked another significant innovation in access to financial services. Fast forward two months, and Apple Card may now find its place in history for a less positive reason—the dark side of the technological revolution rearing... View Details

Keywords: by Karen G. Mills; Financial Services

January 2025
Supplement

Wendell Weeks at Corning Inc.

By: Ryan Raffaelli

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Disruptive Innovation; Information Technology; Leadership; Health Pandemics; Technology Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

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26 Apr 2011
News

BioMine Strikes Gold

a Boston-based technology financial services company whose mission is to reinvent hedge fund investing through disruptive technology, transparency and liquidity. PhytoTEK supplies a unique biologic solution... View Details

Keywords: Mining (except Oil and Gas); Mining; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

July 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Eee PC (A)

By: Willy C. Shih, Chintay Shih, Hung-Chang Chiu, Yi-Ching Hsieh and Ho Howard Yu

ASUSTek Computer was the world's largest manufacture of PC motherboards, yet when it tried to launch its new sub-notebook Eee PC, the organization faced challenges in doing things outside of its established processes. Though many of the team members had worked together... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Disruptive Innovation; Product Launch; Groups and Teams; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Industry

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10 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Cable TV: From Community Antennas to Wired Cities

in the rural areas where cable got started. By the end of the 1950s, however, cable technology had improved to the point where 12-channel systems were commonplace. 4 Cable entrepreneurs used these additional channels along with microwave... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann; Media & Broadcasting; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation

05 May 2011
News

Blazing a Trail for Glenn Beck

companies, Morgan said she has drawn inspiration and guidance from HBS professor Clay Christensen’s book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. In it, he describes his theory of how disruptive technologies help to... View Details

Keywords: News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

Portrait Project

Sam Li

probably take me three minutes, but for Michael, it was like taking a stressful exam. What is a password security question? What is PayPal? It was too much. Computer technology disrupted his life without... View Details

05 Feb 2001
What Do You Think?

Do MBA Programs Face “The Innovator’s Dilemma”?

business. Christensen cites IBM and Merrill Lynch as examples of companies exposed to disruptive technologies. The disruptive technology for IBM is Dell's use of direct... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

27 Jan 2014
Blog Post

Opportunity Abounds

the US, with our global partners on a pressing business issue. The project concludes with a 10-day trip to work in the FIELD with our partners, formally ending with a business recommendation from the HBS team. I traveled to New Delhi to work with a start-up in the... View Details

Keywords: Technology

October 2016 (Revised March 2017)
Case

uberPOOL

By: Marco Iansiti, Michael W. Toffel and Amram Migdal

This case describes Uber's uberPOOL service, which let multiple Uber users who were headed in the same direction share a ride and pay substantially lower fares. View Details