IDT - Disrupting Technologies: Catching the wave (1995)

Question 1

Two types of technologies

Answer 1

Sustaining technology
Disruptive technology

Both types have different performance improvement trajectories

Question 2

Disruptive technologies

Answer 2

Introduce very different set of product attributes that do not immediately satisfy mainstream customer. In the beginning the perform worse than existing products.

Question 3

Sustaining technologies

Answer 3

Maintain steady rate of improvement. Give existing customers more/better of what they already have

Question 4

Inagility for downmarket investment

Answer 4

Succesful, well-managed companies have developed investment processes that are unable to allocate resources downmarket

Question 5

Downmarket investment

Answer 5

Investing in products that are aimed at a market segment with (currently) smaller size customers. Very difficult for companies that are active upmarket

Question 6

Upmarket investment

Answer 6

Investing in products aimed at a larger market segments. For customers larger than current customers.

Question 7

Steps to start investing downmarket

Answer 7

• Determine whether a given new technology is disruptive or sustaining
• Define strategic significance of disruptive tech
• Locate initial market for disruptive tech
• Place responsibility in independent (smaller) organization
• Keep disruptive organization independent