Sustaining Innovation
Updated 2026-07-31
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
In Clayton Christensen's framework, sustaining innovation improves the performance of existing products for a firm's most demanding mainstream customers, whether the underlying technology change is incremental or radical. It is the normal work of established firms and differs from disruptive innovation, which initially serves overlooked or less demanding customers with lower performance.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Innovation classifier: name whether a move is sustaining or disruptive before funding it. - Incumbent advantage: recognize sustaining improvement as home turf you should defend. - Entrant warning: see sustaining improvement as a trap that favors incumbents, not newcomers.
Anchor fast decisions
Listening closely to the best existing customers steers resources toward better performance along the dimensions the firm already measures. That discipline pays off in the current market while quietly blinding the firm to cheaper and simpler alternatives growing at the low end.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovationverified
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