Publications

23 Apr 2013
News

Disruptive Innovation: A Prescription For Better Health Care

October 2009
Article

How GE Is Disrupting Itself

By: Jeffrey R. Immelt, Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble

23 Oct 2024
News

When Politics Disrupts Our Happiness

January–February 2000
Article

Patterns of Disruption in Retailing

By: Clayton M. Christensen and R. S. Tedlow

Keywords: Disruption; Sales

1997
Chapter

Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave

By: Joseph L. Bower and Clayton M. Christensen

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Disruption

06 Apr 2021
News

Disrupting the Waste Management Industry with Technology

November 2018
Article

Disruptive Innovation: An Intellectual History and Directions for Future Research

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Rory McDonald, Elizabeth J. Altman and Jonathan E. Palmer

The concept of disruptive innovation has gained considerable currency among practitioners despite widespread misunderstanding of its core principles. Similarly, foundational research on disruption has elicited frequent citation and vibrant debate in academic circles,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Metrics; Systemic Industries; Technology Trajectories; Disruptive Innovation; Theory; History; Competitive Strategy; Research

Read Now

Article

What to Do When Industry Disruption Threatens Your Career

By: Boris Groysberg, Eric Lin and Whitney Johnson

This article discusses how to diagnose the risks that disruptive industry forces pose to individual careers and offers suggestions on how to mitigate such threats. Recommendations are based on analyses of individuals’ career histories in the professional services... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Personal Development and Career; Strategy

14 Aug 2019
News

The Manager's Guide to Leveraging Disruption

January 2020 (Revised April 2020)
Teaching Note

Brandless: Disrupting Consumer Packaged Goods

By: Jill Avery

Brandless, an online direct-to-consumer seller of upscale private-label consumer packaged goods (CPG), offered consumers a limited assortment of values-conscious products delivered directly to their homes with the simplicity of one fixed $3.00 price point that promised... View Details

Keywords: Brand; Brand Management; DTC; Private Label; Groceries; Packaged Food; Personal Care; Startups; Retailing; Amazon; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Business Startups; Disruption; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; United States

2009
Book

The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Jerome H. Grossman M.D. and Jason Hwang M.D.

A groundbreaking prescription for health care reform—from a legendary leader in innovation. Our health care system is in critical condition. Each year, fewer Americans can afford it, fewer businesses can provide it, and fewer government programs can promise it for... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Disruptive Innovation; Health Industry; United States

07 Feb 2019
Book

How Big Companies Can Outrun Disruption

combination of both. In my framework, there are four types of innovation. Routine innovation builds upon a company’s existing technological competencies and exploits the existing business model. Disruptive innovation, a concept made... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

September 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Digital Microscopy at Carl Zeiss: Managing Disruption

By: Willy Shih

Ulrich Simon, the head of the Microscopy business group at Carl Zeiss AG knew that his unit was facing a disruptive threat, so he chartered a special team to tackle the industrial segment. Given a high degree of autonomy, the project team developed an understanding of... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; High Technology Products; Emergent Strategy; Product Lines; Corporate Strategy; Digital Platforms; Disruptive Innovation; Technology Industry; Germany

Educators

April 2025
Teaching Note

Blue Frontier: Disrupting Air Conditioning

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 325-088. View Details

29 Oct 2014
News

The Businessman Disrupting Organ Transplantation

02 Apr 2014
News

Disrupting the Criminal Supply Chain

It is often said that two years at HBS prepares its graduates to lead a wide range of organizations and endeavors and to find solutions to a host of business and social challenges. Still, Kanwaljit Bakshi (MBA/JD 1999), known to friends and colleagues as Kayla Brochu,... View Details

Keywords: Constantine von Hoffman; human trafficking; Government; National Security and International Affairs; Government

2000
Working Paper

Managing the Disruption of Healthcare

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Richard Bohmer, John Kenagy and Jeffrey Elton