Clayton m Christensen. Clayton Christensen. About the book “The Dilemma of the Innovator. How powerful companies die because of new technologies

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Clayton Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma. How strong companies die because of new technologies ”is today a classic literature on strategic thinking. It talks about the fact that many companies fail because they strive to do everything right. They can be guided by consumer opinion, invest in promising innovations, and follow the footsteps of successful companies, but still fail.

The information presented in the book is excellent material for reflection, because is mainly theoretical in nature, and is aimed at familiarizing the reader with the problem. Be that as it may, anyone who reads the book's idea of ​​how to run a modern business will change radically.

About Clayton Christensen

Clayton Christensen – business consultant, entrepreneur, professor business administration at Harvard Business School and a developer of innovation theory. He is considered one of the world's top experts in innovation and organizational growth, and his ideas have been incorporated into many companies throughout the world. different countries ah world. Today, Clayton Christensen, along with partners, runs the consulting firm Innosight and several other organizations. In 2011, he became the most influential thinker in the business world.

About the book “The Dilemma of the Innovator. How powerful companies die because of new technologies

The book brought to your attention consists of an acknowledgment section, an introduction, and two large parts, which include eleven chapters in total. The final section is devoted to the personality of the author. Below we would like to introduce you to some of the most interesting, in our opinion, features of the book.

Introduction

Any company today must be in a state of constant development, because. without it, there can be neither profit nor desirable market positions. But to move along the path of development, it is necessary to use innovations and new technologies. The result of this process is able to meet the needs of customers.

In the course of the organization's activities, not everything goes according to the planned scheme, and even a seemingly well-thought-out modification of production can lead to defeat. It is in this case that innovation is an extremely negative phenomenon. To understand this, it should be said that innovations can be of two types:

• Supportive innovations are characteristic of large market players; aimed at maintaining the market position, attracting new and retaining existing customers
• Disruptive innovations are characteristic of newcomers who are prone to risk and action in conditions of uncertainty; large companies often do not pay attention to such innovations, which in the future may go sideways for them

Our task is to understand why large companies fail when interacting with innovations, and also to understand how they can be managed.

Innovator's Dilemma #1: Relying on Consumer and Investor Opinion

The desire of companies to engage in the production and marketing of a product in demand is quite natural. But this captures them in the captivity of stakeholders - investors and consumers. This dependence also prevents the company from accepting market challenges, since the whole inside of the company is subordinated to the behavior of stakeholders.

The company's resources are distributed in specific areas set by the market. Hence, the value is created based on the desires of consumers, solving the financial issue in their favor. If there is a service high demand, which means that there will be a desire to receive from her.

But it is not resources alone that can slow down responses to innovation. The procedures adopted in the organization also play a significant role here - they are designed to restrict access to persons who, to common base alternative solutions.

Among other things, the investors already mentioned are an obstacle to the financing and commercialization of disruptive innovations. they involve a lot of risk. In addition to this, they serve as the reason for the emergence of a new line of business.

To avoid clashing what is profitable with what is promising, effective managers implement disruptive innovations that have a consumer, apply values ​​and procedures from main organization, assign low-cost resources to disruptive innovations, and take the disruptive project to neighboring markets where their performance can be evaluated.

Innovator's Dilemma #2: Desire to enter the "higher" market

A successful company is always guided by its principles in the process of creating a value chain. The main strategy here is continuous growth. Based on this, management increasingly decides to move up - to enter larger markets. From this it turns out that the sales schedule is built in ascending order. Disruptive innovation appears at the lower levels, and is able to direct the entire organization along a new path.

There are three main factors that characterize the desire of large companies to rise to the top: they expect higher incomes, they increase the quality of life of consumers, and they use economies of scale for their intended purpose. It is also important to say that there are factors why the "lower" markets do not suit large companies: for example, they are not able to meet the need for development.

Innovator's Dilemma #3: Too Much Quality

Despite the apparent obviousness, if the product is of better quality, this does not mean that it is better. According to the features of the demand curve, known from economic theory if the quality of the product is improved excessively, the manufacturer may jeopardize its profits.

In such situations, the risk cannot be justified, based on the following reasons:

• The consumer does not want to buy more quality products at higher prices if he is satisfied with the previous quality
• The manufacturer does not take into account the steps life cycle products, accelerating the process of its "death"

Quality should be understood as a complex of product properties related to each other. A serious change in one property is reflected in another, thereby increasing the value of the goods. In order not to make a mistake, the manager must first theoretical analysis situations and insist on their own, interacting with company members, and secondly, to create a test version of the product in order to show in practice the weight of their arguments.

Innovator's Dilemma #4: Analyzing the Non-Existent

From one point of view, an effective manager is engaged in detailed market research and action planning, but on the other hand, this can become an obstacle to becoming a company initiator of serious changes in the market.

Companies can be afraid of disruptive innovation due to the lack of specific quantitative returns, the lack of a clear presentation of the financial features of the issue, and the lack of control capacity due to the budget.

In such situations, you should resort to the use of agnostic marketing, because. It is assumed that the organization operates in conditions of complete uncertainty. But you must remember that here the failure of an idea should not be equated with the failure of the company, just as the capabilities of the employees should not be considered the capabilities of the organization.

Agnostic marketing involves answering the following questions:

• How will the project fit in with company procedures?
• How will the project align with the organization's values?
• Is it possible to create separate division based on resources?

Having answered these questions, you can proceed to the definition of command types by structure.

Conclusion

To solve the problem of innovation, it is not necessary to strive for more better governance, increase the amount of working time and . Practical studies have shown that all efficient companies there were hard-working leaders and there were always mistakes. So you need to choose the right reaction without blaming anyone, and draw the right conclusions. Do not think that you will instantly make a certain leap; you just need to immediately bring your product to the market and see what happens.

You will learn about other important features of working with innovations in Clayton Christensen's book The Innovator's Dilemma. How strong companies die because of new technologies. We recommend it to businessmen, executives, managers and people who are interested in doing business and introducing innovations.

Isn't it strange to ask in an era fast food and instant messaging, do we make decisions too quickly and regret them later? Yet innovation experts Clayton Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon want you to think about just that. Their research, based on the application of the method of cause and effect, is designed to help readers not only achieve success in business and professional career but also improve personal life. They explain why correlation should not be confused with causality, and demonstrate how to use the if-then principle in your work and personal life. Christensen concludes this unusual book, standing aside from his seminal writings on innovation, with an account of his personal experience implementation of the principles outlined in the book.

INTRODUCTION

In the last class of a course I give to students at Harvard Business School, I usually talk about the fate of my own classmates. Like any other school, every five years we get together for alumni reunions - as a result, I have collected a whole series of wonderful "snapshots" of my comrades at different stages of life. The school is very good at luring their former pets to such meetings; participants will receive a top-level reception, performances by famous personalities and an excellent entertainment program.

My first meeting with classmates five years after graduation was no exception and brought together a large number of guests. Looking around, everyone saw elegant and successful people next to them - we could not help but have the feeling that we are all special.

We really had something to celebrate. Things seemed to be going very well with my classmates; they had excellent jobs, some worked in exotic corners of the world, and most managed to marry true beauties. It seemed that they were "doomed" to live in a fairy tale.

However, when we met to celebrate our tenth anniversary, something happened that we didn't expect. Some of my classmates I had hoped to see didn't come, and I had no idea why. Later, talking to them on the phone or asking friends, I put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Some of my classmates were senior executives who worked for well-known consulting and investment companies such as McKinsey & Co. and Goldman Sachs; others have climbed steadily to the top of the Fortune 500 list; some have already become successful entrepreneurs.

However, despite all these career achievements, many of them were unhappy.

Behind the beautiful facade were the lives of people who did not enjoy what they did for a living. Numerous divorces and unsuccessful marriages loomed behind him. I remember a classmate of mine who did not speak to his children for many years and now lives with them on different coasts of the country. Another classmate has been married three times since graduation.

It is important to note here that my business school mates are not only the most capable, but also the most decent people I have ever met. When we graduated, they all made plans and dreamed of what they would achieve But something went wrong personal life did not go well, despite the fact that they continued to succeed in professional field. I felt that they themselves are strained by this contrast between personal life and work, and they are very reluctant to talk about this topic.

I figured it was just a minor hiccup—not like a midlife crisis. However, at the meetings that took place 25 and 30 years after graduation, it turned out that everything is much more complicated. One of our classmates, Jeffrey Skilling, went to jail for his part in the Enron affair.

The Jeffrey Skilling I knew from my days at Harvard Business School was a good man. He had a sharp mind, worked hard and loved his family. He became one of the youngest partners in history McKinsey& Co., he made over $100 million a year as a executive director Enron company. But at the same time, his personal life left much to be desired: the first marriage ended in divorce. I did not recognize in him the financial shark that the newspapers wrote about, reveling in the scandal. And yet, with Skilling's career completely ruined and himself convicted of fraud in connection with the Enron bankruptcy, I was struck not only by the fact that he had gone astray, but also by how far he was from deviated from this path. Something had clearly taken him in the wrong direction.

Personal dissatisfaction, family setbacks, professional difficulties, even criminal behavior—these problems are not limited to my fellow students at Harvard Business School. I have seen the same thing happen to alumni of the University of Oxford who studied there with me as fellows of the Cecel Rhodes Foundation. To qualify for this scholarship, my classmates must demonstrate high academic ability, excel in extracurricular activities such as sports, politics, or writing, and make significant contributions to their communities. They were comprehensively educated, gifted people who had something to offer the world.

However, as time passed, some of my thirty-two Oxford classmates began to experience similar troubles. One of them played a prominent role in a major insider trading scandal recounted in the book Den of Thieves. Another ended up in prison because of a sexual relationship with a teenage girl who worked on his political campaign team. At that time he was married and had three children. Another, who seemed to me to have a great future in both professional and family life, fought a never-ending battle on both fronts—including more than one divorce.

I know for a fact that none of these people, graduating from their studies, planned to get divorced or lose contact with their children - much less end up in prison. Nevertheless, many have implemented just such a strategy.

Clayton Magleby Christensen (April 6, 1952) is an American academic, educator, author, business consultant, and religious leader.

Clayton Christensen, Robert and Jane Sizik Award Winner, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; teaches at the Faculty of Technology and Operations Management, as well as at the Faculty of General Management.

Christensen's research and teaching interests are primarily the management of technological innovation and the search for new markets for the implementation of high-tech products. Prior to becoming a faculty member at Harvard Business School, Christensen served as chairman and president of CPS Corporation, a science-intensive materials firm. Christensen founded this corporation with several professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Christensen also served in the administration of President Ronald Reagan and was a member of the Boston Consulting Group.

Christensen has published many works, including the famous books "The Innovator's Dilemma" and "The Solution to the Problem of Innovation in Business". Christensen advises many of the world's leading corporations. Christensen is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and serves to the best of his ability.

Christensen received a bachelor's degree in economics from Brigham Young University, and a master's degree in economics from Oxford (where he received a nominal Rhodes scholarship). Christensen received an MBA and a DBA from Harvard Business School.

Clayton Christensen and his wife Christina have five children.

Books (7)

The Innovator's Dilemma: How New Technologies Kill Strong Companies

In his book The Innovator's Dilemma, Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen attempts to answer the question of why the best companies- with competent leaders and powerful resources - lose their leading positions in the market. Despite the scientific approach, the book is written in plain language, and the search for an answer is no less exciting than a detective investigation.

The book is intended for professionals working in the field of business consulting, top and middle managers, entrepreneurs, students and teachers of economic universities.

The Law of Successful Innovation: Why the customer "hires" your product and how knowing about it helps new developments

Usually, all product changes occur through trial and error: functionality is added, modified appearance, and then - one can only hope that it will work. In fact, innovation can be much more predictable, and much more profitable.

In his book The Law of Successful Innovation, Clayton Christensen explains that one thing is essential to success: understanding what motivates customers to make their choice. You will learn how to understand customer challenges and be able to accurately predict the success of your innovations.

Personal effectiveness

Management is not about buying, selling and investing, as many people think. The principles of resource allocation can help a person achieve happiness in his personal life.

If you illiterately manage the process of allocating resources in a company, the result will not be at all what the management strategy envisaged. The same is true in human life: if you don't have a clear vision of purpose, then you're more likely to waste time and energy on achieving the most visible and short-term signs of success rather than what's really important to you. And just as focusing too much on marginal cost can cause bad corporate decisions, it can also lead a person astray. marginal cost for some "one-time" wrong act may seem deceptively low. But you don't know where this path may lead you. You must clearly articulate own principles and not risk your life and the lives of those close to you by violating these principles.

Solving the problem of innovation in business

How to create a growing business and successfully support its growth.

To be successful in creating a new growing business, the leader must master the theory well and, as the idea of ​​a disruptive product turns into a business plan, think through every decision and act in accordance with the conditions in which the company implements its strategy. In each chapter, the authors present a theory designed to help leaders make decisions that are key to the success of innovative businesses.

Become an innovator. 5 habits of leaders that change the world

How to generate fresh ideas? How to start thinking outside the box? The ability to innovate is the secret sauce for business success.

It contains tools and cases of world companies for developing 5 skills of breakthrough leadership. You will learn what common features can be found among innovators from different countries and how to become an innovator yourself.

life strategy

Why so often the pursuit of positions and salaries does not bring happiness? Why don't our loved ones understand us? Why do the goals we strive for often bring nothing but disappointment?

These and many other questions arose from management guru Clayton Christensen after several Harvard Business School alumni meetings. He found that behind the trappings of success, most of his colleagues were deeply unhappy. But why didn't these smart people who develop the strategies of huge corporations manage to master the strategy of their lives?

Instead of giving ready-made tips, Christensen and his co-authors suggest that we use well-known management theories that are very easy to project into our lives. For example famous companies the book shows the mistakes we make when we misallocate our resources. The authors consider all aspects of life on which our happiness depends.

What's next? Innovation Theory as a Tool for Predicting Industry Changes

The book by K. Christensen and his colleagues gives a detailed answer to the question: “How to recognize innovations that will become “disruptive”?”.

The analytical toolkit proposed in the book makes it possible to evaluate strategic decisions companies; determine who will win in the upcoming competitive battle; anticipate changes in the industry. The authors show how to use this toolkit using five industries as examples: aviation, education, semiconductor manufacturing, healthcare, and telecommunications.

The book is intended for business leaders, industry analysts, investors - for everyone whose success depends on the ability to make forecasts.

Clayton Christensen(Clayton M . Christensen ) - professor of business administration at Harvard University, entrepreneur and business consultant. Considered one of the world's leading experts on innovation and growth, his ideas are widely used around the world.

Clayton Christensen coined the term "disruptive innovation", he concluded that "...the most successful companies are often the most vulnerable to new or emerging technologies.” New products often cause panic in the market. His research confirmed that it is the success of the company that often becomes the main reason for subsequent mistakes. “They often fail,” Christensen argued, “because the very management practices that enabled them to become leaders in the industry prevent them from developing disruptive technologies that ultimately steal markets from them.” By using various models patterns can be explained effective management innovation - most important aspect in modern business.
Christensen had a great influence on modern business. In a 1997 business bestseller"The Innovator's Dilemma" Harvard professor was the first to formulate the reasons for the death of strong companies under the influence of new technologies. The idea of ​​"disruptive innovation" has become familiar to a whole generation of managers who, in terms of Christensen, explained and continue to explain to themselves the structure of a business that can change rapidly and radically under the influence of "innovative" circumstances.

Christensen's theory for two decades has gone far beyond the academic environment - this is one of the most popular economic concepts, almost a common place, and its author has more than once been recognized as the most authoritative business thinker in the world. And it is clear why: this is an optimistic idea that says that beginners without much resources and experience, but with good ideas and not devoid of perseverance, capable of conquering the world, that complacency and the desire to rest on their laurels never lead to good, that market leaders who do only what they have always done are doomed to failure.

And so the theory of "disruptive innovation" is a powerful stimulus for the development of entrepreneurship in recent decades.

His theory has become a business technology, no matter what your original idea is, pay attention to the weaknesses of market leaders and think about how to deprive them of support. Such advice is given by venture investors, many consultants and mentors explain exactly how to undermine the markets, the call “Disrupt!” rattles at many tech hangouts (including the famous TechCrunch conference of the same name). And it seems that for many popular startups today, from Dropbox to Uber, this business technology really works. Traditional suppliers and manufacturers in most industries feel surrounded by new start-ups, creating constant tension and likely pushing these large corporations to change.

Paradoxically, a startup with a hundred people and meager financial resources can sink a monster with tens of thousands of employees. If startups manage to make an innovation that really undermines the market, changes the rules of the game on it, then it has a good chance to rise above the leaders.

Clayton was born in Salt Lake City. He was a scout, worked as a missionary in the Republic of Korea, where he learned the Korean language. He continues to serve his church to this day.

I studied philosophy at school. He attended Oxford University where he studied economics. Received MBA degree with highest honors from Harvard Business School.

Professor Christensen worked at the White House. He is a founding member of Innosight, an innovation consulting firm. In his book The Innovator's Dilemma, he formulated the theory of innovation. Clayton Christensen is a board member of Tata Consultancy Services (NYSE:TCS), Franklin Covey (NYSE:FC) and Vanu, Inc.