One of the more striking - and disturbing - findings of Clayton Christensen's original work on disruptive innovation was that market-leaders were almost never able to cope with the attack of a disruptive innovator (see my earlier post). Even in cases in which leadership understood the danger posed by the disruptor, inertia and short-term economic constraints and incentives almost always led the market leaders to maintain their original trajectories. Over time, the disruptors produced better and cheaper products than the market leaders, and correspondingly the customers switched allegiances. The disruptors became the new market leaders, and the former market leaders often simply disappeared.
Since many have suggested that higher education shows all the characteristics of an industry that is ripe for disruptive innovation, this inability of market leaders to adapt in the face of disruption is rather disturbing. However, there is good news from more recent research by Christensen and his group.
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