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| Come on, who doesn't root for the underdog? |
Our society loves to root for the underdog. This is what
makes the idea of disruptive innovation so romantic…it’s the new, unassuming, little
guy coming in and bowling over the established, cocky, big guy. Online textbook
sale/rental sites are a good example of a disruptor in the world of education.
For years university book stores happily plugged along, virtually without competition,
ripping off students to no end (can you taste a hint of a bitter former-under
grad in that statement?). Then along came companies like abebooks.com (a
personal favorite) selling the very same textbooks for a fraction of the price
(I’ve gotten required course material for $1 vs. $75 at the Torero store).
In the beginning one may scratch their head and think, “well
that’s nice but there’s no way that company can make it selling books for a
buck.” Right? Wrong! As Clayton Christensen,
the creator of the term disruptive innovation states, “Characteristics
of disruptive businesses, at least in their initial stages, can include: lower gross margins, smaller target markets, and simpler products and services that may
not appear as attractive as existing solutions.” What happened is that
good old college book stores got too comfortable to the point of stagnation (this
is what Christensen refers to as “sustaining innovation”), leaving themselves
vulnerable to upheaval from the underdog. And what do you know? The little guy
wins!
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| For all the chart lovers out there. |
I love the whole david and goliath picture you paint with the underdog. New competitors definitely are the cinderella story in the disruptive theory model.
ReplyDeleteAlso, LOVED the photo of underdog. Great cartoon.
I love how you've really took ownership of the disruptive innovation and used your own metaphors/language.
ReplyDeleteI really love your example of textbooks! I didn't even think about that, but it's a really great example. Your post actually made me understand the Disruptive Theory a lot more than I did when I wrote my own post. Thank you for putting it so clearly!
ReplyDeleteI really like this!! I thought of textbooks in the sense of using them in the classroom through the use of an iPad or some sort of Tablet! Like Marissa mentioned, I really like how you used your own metaphors and language!
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