“Disruption” is a business buzzword that has gotten out of control. Today everything and everyone seem to be characterized as disruptive. Now in The Disruption Dilemma, leading young economist Joshua Gans cuts through the chatter to focus on the current realities of disruption, decades beyond its first introduction by Clayton Christensen (who in fact blurbed this book). Departing from the conventional wisdom, Gans identifies two kinds of disruption: demand-side, when successful firms focus on their main customers and underestimate market entrants with innovations that target niche demands; and supply-side, when firms focused on developing existing competencies become incapable of developing new ones. Gans describes the full range of actions business leaders can take to deal with each type of disruption, from “self-disrupting” independent internal units to tightly integrated product development. But therein lies the disruption dilemma: A firm cannot practice both independence and integration at once. Gans shows business leaders how to choose the right strategy so their firms can deal with disruption while continuing to innovate.
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