innovator's dilemma

Described in the 1997 book The Innovator's Dilemma by American business consultant Clayton Christensen.

the innovator's dilemma

1. The observation that well-established companies tend to concentrate on improving existing products, leaving them vulnerable to new competitors and disruptive technologies.
   • 2013 August 28, Derek Thompson, “How Goliaths Beat Themselves: Microsoft's Mobile Failure and the Innovator's Dilemma”, in The Atlantic‎:

     Some of the best pre-mortems for Steve Ballmer, out-going CEO of Microsoft, have chalked up the company's problem to the "innovator's dilemma."

   • 2014 July 9, Megan Garber, “When Harry Met eHarmony”, in The Atlantic‎:

     The generous reading of all this is that recent films and their creators became victims, essentially, of the innovator's dilemma: They got too good at obeying their own, once-successful formulas—and failed to see beyond them.

• Schumpeter's gale