文档介绍：J PROD INNOV MANAG 2004;21:246–258
r 2004 Product Development & Management Association
Disruptive Technology Reconsidered:
A Critique and Research Agenda
Erwin DanneelsÃ
The popular work by Clayton Christensen and colleagues on disruptive technology
serves as a springboard to examine five key issues concerning the effect of techno-
logical change on firms and industries. This article challenges and integrates current
theory in this domain, and raises questions to initiate new work. The discussion is
organized around the following themes: the definition of disruptive technology, the
predictive use of the theory of technological disruption, explaining the ess of
incumbents, the implications of the theory for the merits of being customer-oriented,
and the merits of creating a spin-off mercialize the disruptive technology.
Examination of these themes shows the relationship of the disruptive technology
work with research in a variety of related areas. Many of these links have not been
made explicit before, and several of them have been misunderstood. This article is
intended to encourage further research on disruptive technology and spur debate by
practitioners and scholars alike.
t is rare that a scholarly work draws so much ‘‘disruptive technology,’’ as well as its mecha-
attention as Harvard Business School professor nisms and effects on firms and industries. Although
I Clayton Christensen’s work on disruptive tech- Christensen’s work has contributed to our under-
nology. His book The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997) has standing of the impact of technological innovations
sold over 200,000 copies since its release in May 1997 on the fates of firms and the dynamics of industries, a
and has received extensive coverage in business pub- close reading of his book and the articles he has co-
lications. Christensen was elevated by the business authored with his colleagues has left many questions
press to the status of ‘‘guru’’(Scherreik, 2000).