Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Clarifying the disruptive innovation puzzle: a critical review

Clarifying the disruptive innovation puzzle: a critical review Disruptive innovation theory has attracted the interest of researchers and practitioners across many areas, resulting in the development of new business models and strategies. Despite the increasing scholarly attention, its definition has not yet been understood, the understanding of the term “disruptive” and the complex nature of this innovation has provoked some misinterpretations, and the meaning remains ambiguous. To address this confusion, this article undertakes a critical review of disruptive innovation in an attempt at providing a solid theoretical grounding.Design/methodology/approachThe review examines the key issues of published articles, identified after conducting a search in the Web of Science scholarly database. The analysis highlights the basic definitions of disruptive innovation, showing its evolution, types and its characteristics. This article also examines the behaviours adopted by the actors associated with disruptive innovation (i.e. incumbents, entrants and customers).FindingsOverall, this article finds that disruptive innovation has its own elements to be identified, requiring an in-depth analysis to avoid confusing with other innovation approaches. The findings suggest that disruptive innovation affects businesses and sectors in varied and complex ways because customers from low-end market and mainstream market appreciate this innovation. Further, its impact on practice is huge and incites further efforts in establishing a stronger theoretical grounding.Originality/valueOur research contributes on the evolution of this theory, helping to better understand the phenomenon of disruption and can be used for different types of research settings. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png European Journal of Innovation Management Emerald Publishing

Clarifying the disruptive innovation puzzle: a critical review

Download PDF
26 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/clarifying-the-disruptive-innovation-puzzle-a-critical-review-o4s6lFrnSe
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
1460-1060
DOI
10.1108/ejim-07-2019-0198
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Disruptive innovation theory has attracted the interest of researchers and practitioners across many areas, resulting in the development of new business models and strategies. Despite the increasing scholarly attention, its definition has not yet been understood, the understanding of the term “disruptive” and the complex nature of this innovation has provoked some misinterpretations, and the meaning remains ambiguous. To address this confusion, this article undertakes a critical review of disruptive innovation in an attempt at providing a solid theoretical grounding.Design/methodology/approachThe review examines the key issues of published articles, identified after conducting a search in the Web of Science scholarly database. The analysis highlights the basic definitions of disruptive innovation, showing its evolution, types and its characteristics. This article also examines the behaviours adopted by the actors associated with disruptive innovation (i.e. incumbents, entrants and customers).FindingsOverall, this article finds that disruptive innovation has its own elements to be identified, requiring an in-depth analysis to avoid confusing with other innovation approaches. The findings suggest that disruptive innovation affects businesses and sectors in varied and complex ways because customers from low-end market and mainstream market appreciate this innovation. Further, its impact on practice is huge and incites further efforts in establishing a stronger theoretical grounding.Originality/valueOur research contributes on the evolution of this theory, helping to better understand the phenomenon of disruption and can be used for different types of research settings.

Journal

European Journal of Innovation Management – Emerald Publishing

Published: May 27, 2021

Keywords: Innovation; Business strategy; Disruptive innovation; Customers; Disruptive technology

References

  • Innovation: mapping the winds of creative destruction
    Abernathy, W.J.; Clark, K.B.
  • A systematic literature review of constraint-based innovations: state of the art and future perspectives
    Agarwal, N.; Grottke, M.; Mishra, S.; Brem, A.
  • Academic publishing, internet technology, and disruptive innovation
    Allahar, H.
  • The disruptor's dilemma: TiVO and the U.S. television ecosystem
    Ansari, S.; Garud, R.; Kumaraswamy, A.
  • Inhibitors of disruptive innovation capability: a conceptual model
    Assink, M.
  • A new perspective on the innovator's dilemma - exploring the role of entrepreneurial incentives
    Berglund, H.; Sandström, C.
  • Disruptive technologies: catching the wave
    Bower, J.L.; Christensen, C.M.
  • A study of factors influencing disruptive innovation in Chinese SMEs
    Chen, J.; Zhu, Z.; Zhang, Y.
  • The ongoing process of building a theory of disruption
    Christensen, C.M.
  • Customer power, strategic investment, and the failure of leading firms
    Christensen, C.M.; Bower, J.L.
  • What is disruptive innovation?
    Christensen, C.M.; Raynor, M.E.; McDonald, R.
  • Nurse practitioners, canaries in the mine of primary care reform
    Contandriopoulos, D.; Brousselle, A.; Breton, M.; Sangster-Gormley, E.; Kilpatrick, K.; Dubois, C.-A.; Brault, I.; Perroux, M.
  • Disruptive innovation in reverse: adding a geographical dimension to disruptive innovation theory
    Corsi, S.; Di Minin, A.
  • Employing new business divisions to exploit disruptive innovations: the interplay between characteristics of the corporation and those of the venture management team
    Crockett, D.R.; McGee, J.E.; Payne, G.T.
  • Disruptive technology reconsidered: a critique and research agenda
    Danneels, E.
  • Disruptive change and the reconfiguration of innovation ecosystems
    Dedehayir, O.; Ortt, J.R.; Seppänen, M.
  • Will the momentum of the electric car last? Testing an hypothesis on disruptive innovation
    Dijk, M.; Wells, P.; Kemp, R.
  • Technology-enhanced learning and higher education
    Flavin, M.
  • Disruptive conduct: the impact of disruptive technologies on social relations in higher education
    Flavin, M.
  • Disruptive innovation in media industry ecosystem and need for improving managerial cognitive capabilities in polymediation era
    Gholampour, M.
  • The Usefulness of measuring disruptiveness of innovations ex post in making ex ante predictions
    Govindarajan, V.; Kopalle, P.K.
  • The effects of mainstream and emerging customer orientations on radical and disruptive innovations
    Govindarajan, V.; Kopalle, P.K.; Danneels, E.
  • An approach for generating design scheme of new market disruptive products driven by function differentiation
    Guo, J.; Tan, R.; Sun, J.; Cao, G.; Zhang, L.
  • A bricolage perspective on technological innovation in emerging markets
    Gurca, A.; Ravishankar, M.N.
  • Airbnb: disruptive innovation and the rise of an informal tourism accommodation sector
    Guttentag, D.
  • Reverse innovation: a systematic literature review
    Hadengue, M.; de Marcellis-Warin, N.; Warin, T.
  • Disruptive innovation vs disruptive technology: the disruptive potential of the value propositions of 3D printing technology startups
    Hahn, F.; Jensen, S.; Tanev, S.
  • The provider perspective: investigating the effect of the Electronic Patient-Reported Outcome (ePRO) mobile application and portal on primary care provider workflow
    Hans, P.K.; Gray, C.S.; Gill, A.; Tiessen, J.
  • Architectural innovation: the reconfiguration of existing product technologies and the failure of established firms
    Henderson, R.M.; Clark, K.B.
  • Valley of the unicorns: consumer genomics, venture capital and digital disruption
    Hogarth, S.
  • A case analysis of managing ‘Maverick’ innovation units
    Isherwood, A.; Tassabehji, R.
  • Hospital systems, convenient care strategies, and healthcare reform
    Kaissi, A.; Antonio, S.; Shay, P.; Roscoe, C.
  • How useful is the theory of disruptive innovation?
    King, A.A.; Baatartogtokh, B.
  • Accommodating the sharing revolution: a qualitative evaluation of the impact of Airbnb on Singapore's budget hotels
    Koh, E.; King, B.
  • Understanding the influence of absorptive capacity and ambidexterity on the process of business model change-the case of on-premise and cloud-computing software
    Kranz, J.J.; Hanelt, A.; Kolbe, L.M.
  • Disruptive innovation in rural American healthcare: the physician assistant practice
    Kushins, E.R.; Heard, H.; Weber, J.M.
  • Disrupt or die: mobile health and disruptive innovation as body politics
    Levina, M.
  • The inevitability of open access
    Lewis, D.W.
  • The continuing evolution of official statistics: some challenges and opportunities
    MacFeely, S.
  • Disruptive innovation: in need of better theory
    Markides, C.
  • A dynamic view of strategy
    Markides, C.C.
  • The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese: non-technological innovation in creative industries
    Martin-Rios, C.; Parga-Dans, E.
  • Smart, connected products change a company's business strategy orientation
    Mohelska, H.; Sokolova, M.
  • Defining and identifying disruptive innovations
    Nagy, D.; Schuessler, J.; Dubinsky, A.
  • The many moods of inter-organizational imitation: a critical review
    Ordanini, A.G.R.; The, R.D.
  • The encroachment speed of potentially disruptive innovations with indirect network externalities: the case of e-readers
    Parry, M.E.; Kawakami, T.
  • Taking advantage of disruptive innovation through changes in value networks: insights from the space industry
    Pérez, L.; Dos Santos Paulino, V.; Cambra-Fierro, J.
  • The influence of management journals in the 1980s and 1990s
    Podsakoff, P.M.; Mackenzie, S.B.; Bachrach, D.G.; Podsakoff, N.P.
  • How to identify your enemies before they destroy you
    Rafii, F.; Kampas, P.J.
  • Disrupting and democratising higher education provision or entrenching academic elitism: towards a model of MOOCs adoption at African universities
    Rambe, P.; Moeti, M.
  • Government's role in disruptive innovation and industry emergence: the case of the electric bike in China
    Ruan, Y.; Hang, C.C.; Wang, Y.M.
  • Is a mobile phone a disruptive innovation in the workplace?
    Said, M.F.; Adham, A.A.
  • Search and recombination process to innovate: a review of the empirical evidence and a research agenda
    Savino, T.; Messeni Petruzzelli, A.; Albino, V.
  • When is a disruptive innovation disruptive?
    Schmidt, G.M.; Druehl, C.T.
  • An exploratory study of innovation strategies of the internet of things SMEs in South Korea
    Shin, D.-I.
  • The additive manufacturing innovation: a range of implications
    Steenhuis, H.-J.; Pretorius, L.
  • 5G as disruptive innovation: standard and regulatory challenges at a country level
    Suryanegara, M.
  • Robotic surgery: disruptive innovation or unfulfilled promise? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the first 30 years
    Tan, A.; Ashrafian, H.; Scott, A.J.; Mason, S.E.; Harling, L.; Athanasiou, T.; Darzi, A.
  • Perspectives on the university as a business: the corporate management structure, neoliberalism and higher education
    Taylor, A.
  • Disruptive technology or visionary leadership?
    Tellis, G.J.
  • When harry met sally: different approaches towards Uber and AirBnB—an Australian and Singapore perspective
    Tham, A.
  • Disruptive innovation, managerial cognition, and technology competition outcomes
    Vecchiato, R.
  • Antecedents and implications of disruptive innovation: evidence from China
    Wan, F.; Williamson, P.J.; Yin, E.
  • Is disruption theory wearing new clothes or just naked? Analyzing recent critiques of disruptive innovation theory
    Weeks, M.R.
  • Future applications of blockchain in business and management: a Delphi study
    White, G.R.T.
  • Determinants of service innovation in academic libraries through the lens of disruptive innovation
    Yeh, S.-T.; Walter, Z.
  • A reflective review of disruptive innovation theory
    Yu, D.; Hang, C.C.
  • Creating technology candidates for disruptive innovation: generally applicable R and D strategies
    Yu, D.; Hang, C.C.
  • Exploring antecedent difference between early and late adopters of disruptive innovation in e-business microcredit context: evidence from China
    Zhang, W.; Zhang, Q.