MENTAL MODEL · M3640

The Innovator's Dilemma

BusinessHigh supportManagement

Included

Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28

CORE DEFINITION

The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail, first published in 1997, is the best-known work of the Harvard professor and businessman Clayton Christensen. It expands on the concept of disruptive technologies, a term he coined in a 1995 article "Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave". It describes how large incumbent companies lose market share by listening to their customers and focusing on high-profit products, while ignoring low-end disruptive innovations that eventually overtake them.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Proposed by Clayton Christensen. Large companies listen to mainstream customers, pursue high profits, and optimize existing businesses ("good management"), but due to resource allocation logic, they ignore low-end disruptive innovations; when disruptors attack from below, the original advantages become burdens. The mechanism is "value network lock-in"—existing customers and profit structures hinder investment in new markets.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Practice this model in one real situation:

Identify disruptive (low-end/new market) signals.
Establish independent small units for self-disruption, not constrained by mainstream customers.
Allow low-profit early businesses to grow independently.
Run mainstream and disruptive tracks in parallel.

Check to track your progress (stored locally)

Learning progress0%

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Source support: Explicit

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en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_DilemmaZH · Explicit
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