Editing Disruptive innovation (section)

{{short description|Technological change}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
[[File:L-Hochrad.png|thumb|upright=1.5|An 1880 penny-farthing (left), and an 1886 [[Rover Company#Before cars|Rover]] safety bicycle with gearing]]

In [[business administration|business]] theory, '''disruptive innovation''' is [[innovation]] that creates a new [[Market (economics)|market]] and [[value network]] or enters at the bottom of an existing market and eventually displaces established market-leading firms, products, and alliances.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ab Rahman |first=Airini |title=Emerging Technologies with Disruptive Effects: A Review |journal=PERINTIS eJournal |date=2017 |volume=7 |issue=2 |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321906585 |display-authors=etal|access-date=December 21, 2017}}</ref> The term, "disruptive innovation" was popularized by the American academic [[Clayton Christensen]] and his collaborators beginning in 1995,<ref>{{Cite magazine|last1=Bower | first1=Joseph L. | last2=Christensen | first2=Clayton M. | title=Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave | magazine=Harvard Business Review|publisher=Harvard Business Publishing| date=January 1995| url=https://hbr.org/1995/01/disruptive-technologies-catching-the-wave | access-date=September 14, 2023}}</ref> but the concept had been previously described in [[Richard N. Foster]]'s book ''Innovation: The Attacker's Advantage'' and in the paper "Strategic responses to technological threats",<ref name="Strategic Responses to Technological Threats">{{Cite journal |last1=Cooper |first1=Arnold |last2=Schendel |first2=Dan |date=February 1976 |title=Strategic Responses to Technological Threats |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0007-6813%2876%2990024-0 |journal=Business Horizons |language=en |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=61–69 |doi=10.1016/0007-6813(76)90024-0|url-access=subscription }} </ref> as well as by [[Joseph Schumpeter]] in the book ''[[Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy]]'' (as creative destruction).

Not all innovations are disruptive, even if they are revolutionary. For example, the first [[automobile]]s in the late 19th century were not a disruptive innovation, because early automobiles were expensive luxury items that did not disrupt the market for [[horse-drawn vehicle]]s. The market for transportation essentially remained intact until the debut of the lower-priced [[Ford Model T]] in 1908.{{sfn|Christensen|Raynor|2003|p=49}} The ''[[Mass production|mass-produced]]'' automobile was a disruptive innovation, because it changed the transportation market, whereas the first thirty years of automobiles did not. [[Generative artificial intelligence]] is expected to have a revolutionary impact on the way humans interact with technology.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Minevich |first=Mark |date=2023-12-14 |title=The Dawn Of AI Disruption: How 2024 Marks A New Era In Innovation |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/markminevich/2023/12/14/the-dawn-of-ai-disruption-how-2024-marks-a-new-era-in-innovation/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250416094935/https://www.forbes.com/sites/markminevich/2023/12/14/the-dawn-of-ai-disruption-how-2024-marks-a-new-era-in-innovation/ |archive-date=2025-04-16 |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> There is much excitement about its potential, but also worries about its possible negative impact on labor markets across many industries. However, the real-world impacts on labor markets remain to be seen.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rege |first=Manjeet  |last2=K. |first2=Hemachandran |date=2024-05-28 |title=Tommie Experts: Generative AI’s Real-World Impact on Job Markets |url=https://news.stthomas.edu/generative-ais-real-world-impact-on-job-markets/ |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=Newsroom {{!}} University of St. Thomas |language=en-US}}</ref> 

Disruptive innovations tend to be produced by outsiders and [[entrepreneur]]s in [[startups]], rather than existing market-leading companies. The business environment of market leaders does not allow them to pursue disruptive innovations when they first arise, because they are not profitable enough at first and because their development can take scarce resources away from sustaining innovations (which are needed to compete against current competition).{{sfn|Christensen|1997|p=47}} Small teams are more likely to create disruptive innovations than large teams.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Lingfei |last2=Wang |first2=Dashun |last3=Evans |first3=James A. |date=February 2019 |title=Large teams develop and small teams disrupt science and technology |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-0941-9 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=566 |issue=7744 |pages=378–382 |bibcode=2019Natur.566..378W |doi=10.1038/s41586-019-0941-9 |issn=1476-4687 |pmid=30760923 |s2cid=61156556|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A disruptive process can take longer to develop than by the conventional approach and the risk associated with it is higher than the other more incremental, architectural or evolutionary forms of innovations, but once it is deployed in the market, it achieves a much faster penetration and higher degree of impact on the established markets.<ref name=Assink>{{cite journal | last1 = Assink | first1 = Marnix | year = 2006 | title = Inhibitors of disruptive innovation capability: a conceptual model | journal = European Journal of Innovation Management | volume = 9 | issue = 2| pages = 215–233 | doi=10.1108/14601060610663587}}</ref>

Beyond business and economics disruptive innovations can also be considered to disrupt [[complex system]]s, including economic and business-related aspects.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Durantin|first1=Arnaud|last2=Fanmuy|first2=Gauthier|last3=Miet|first3=Ségolène|last4=Pegon|first4=Valérie|title=Complex Systems Design & Management |chapter=Disruptive Innovation in Complex Systems |date=January 1, 2017|pages=41–56|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-49103-5_4|language=en|isbn=978-3-319-49102-8}}</ref> Through identifying and analyzing systems for possible points of intervention, one can then design changes focused on disruptive interventions.<ref>Acaroglu, L. (2014). Making change: Explorations into enacting a disruptive pro-sustainability design practice. [Doctoral dissertation, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology].</ref>