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    DisruptionRemove Disruption →

    New research on disruption from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including how disruptive innovation is remaking businesses, health care organizations, and universities; insights from observations by the theory's founder, Clayton Christensen; and how to use disruption to your advantage.
    Page 1 of 21 Results →
    • 07 Feb 2022
    • Research & Ideas

    Digital Transformation: A New Roadmap for Success

    by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

    Is your company reaping the rewards of digital transformation yet? Linda Hill and colleagues offer seven guiding principles for transformations at any stage—nascent, progressing, or stalled. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 31 Jan 2022
    • Research & Ideas

    Where Can Digital Transformation Take You? Insights from 1,700 Leaders

    by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

    Digital transformation seems like a journey without end, but many companies are forging ahead. Linda Hill and colleagues reveal six qualities that set digitally mature organizations apart. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 04 May 2021
    • Book

    Best Buy: How Human Connection Saved a Failing Retailer

    by Michael Blanding

    In The Heart of Business, former Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly shares how he revived the ailing electronics chain, offering a guide to leaders facing seemingly insurmountable challenges. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 21 Jan 2020
    • Research & Ideas

    Lessons for Retailers from the Rebirth of Indie Bookstores

    by Michael Blanding

    Independent bookstores are resurging. Their strategies offer lessons for many disrupted industries to compete against Amazon and other digital retailers, says Ryan Raffaelli. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 14 Aug 2019
    • Sharpening Your Skills

    The Manager's Guide to Leveraging Disruption

    by Sean Silverthorne

    Clayton M. Christensen's seminal book, The Innovator's Dilemma, helped ignite the idea of innovative disruption. His Harvard Business School colleagues have been adding to innovation research ever since. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 08 Jul 2019
    • Research & Ideas

    Are Paywalls Saving Newspapers?

    by Kristen Senz

    Newspapers with reputable brands and unique content are finding success behind paywalls. For most papers, however, the future is not so clear, says Doug J. Chung. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 18 Feb 2019
    • Book

    What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

    by Danielle Kost

    Technology doesn't drive disruption—customers do. In a new book, marketing professor Thales Teixeira argues that successful disruptors are faster to spot and serve emerging customer needs than larger competitors. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 07 Feb 2019
    • Book

    How Big Companies Can Outrun Disruption

    by Martha Lagace

    Large companies can be easy targets for disruption, but Gary Pisano says there are steps that can keep them ahead of the innovation curve. Rule 1: Don't emulate startup cultures. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 20 Dec 2018
    • Cold Call Podcast

    Using Fintech to Disrupt Eastern Bank from Within

    Re: Karen Mills

    When Eastern Bank decided to battle a threat from new competitors, it hired a fintech executive to set up Eastern Labs and start innovating. Karen Mills discusses her case study on what happened next. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 28 Nov 2018
    • HBS Case

    On Target: Rethinking the Retail Website

    by Dina Gerdeman

    Target is one big-brand retailer that seems to have survived and even thrived in the apocalyptic retail landscape. What's its secret? Srikant Datar discusses the company's relentless focus on online data. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 20 Apr 2018
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Executive Education in the Digital Vortex: The Disruption of the Supply Landscape

    by Mihnea Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas

    The competitive landscape of executive education is feeling a tectonic shift even as demand grows for managerial skills. This study maps and analyzes the major providers of executive education programs, including business schools, consultancies, and corporate universities, to better understand and explain the industry’s present and future dynamics.

    • 20 Sep 2017
    • Research & Ideas

    The Three Types of Leaders Who Create Radical Change

    by Carmen Nobel

    Every successful social movement requires three distinct leadership roles: the agitator, the innovator, and the orchestrator, according to institutional change expert Julie Battilana. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 02 Mar 2015
    • Research & Ideas

    Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?

    by Sean Silverthorne

    Part 1: The new book Retail Revolution: Will Your Brick and Mortar Store Survive? argues that ecommerce is about to deal severe blows to many familiar store-based brands—even including Walmart. Here's how retailers can fight back, according to Rajiv Lal, José Alvarez, and Dan Greenberg. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 25 Jul 2011
    • Research & Ideas

    How Disruptive Innovation is Remaking the University

    by Clayton M. Christensen & Henry J. Eyring

    In The Innovative University, authors Clayton M. Christensen and Henry J. Eyring take Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation to the field of higher education, where new online institutions and learning tools are challenging the future of traditional colleges and universities. Key concepts include: A disruptive innovation brings to market a product or service that isn't as good as the best traditional offerings, but is less expensive and easier to use. Online learning is a disruptive technology that is making colleges and universities reconsider their higher education models. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 05 Apr 2010
    • Research & Ideas

    HBS Cases: iPads, Kindles, and the Close of a Chapter in Book Publishing

    by Julia Hanna

    Book publishing is changing before our very eyes, even if the industry itself is fighting the transition with every comma it can muster. Harvard Business School professor Peter Olson, former CEO of Random House, wonders if books themselves may be in jeopardy. Key concepts include: The traditional book publishing and distribution system is under pressure to change to digital e-books. Publishers should consider a strategy of cooperation rather than competition with online retailers. Adding video and other multimedia capabilities will make e-books more attractive in the textbook industry. The fundamental question to be asked in the Internet age is, how popular will books remain? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 24 Apr 2009
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Corporate Social Entrepreneurship

    by James E. Austin & Ezequiel Reficco

    Accelerated organizational transformation faces a host of obstacles well-documented in the change management literature. Because corporate social entrepreneurship (CSE) expands the core purpose of corporations and their organizational values, it constitutes fundamental change that can be particularly threatening and resisted. Furthermore, it pushes the corporation's actions more broadly and deeply into the area of social value creation where the firm's experiences and skill sets are less developed. The disruptive social innovations intrinsic to the CSE approach amplify this zone of discomfort. Fortunately, the experiences of innovative companies such as Timberland and Starbucks show how these challenges may be overcome. Key concepts include: Values-based leadership, the synergistic generation of social and economic value, and strategic cross-sector alliances are key ingredients to achieving a sustainably successful business. For companies to move their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to the next level, they need to rethink their current approaches to CSR, tapping into the creativity of each individual. Like all entrepreneurship, CSE is about creating disruptive change in the pursuit of new opportunities. It combines the willingness and desire to create joint economic and social value with the entrepreneurial redesign, systems development, and action necessary to carry it out. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 08 Apr 2009
    • Research & Ideas

    Clayton Christensen on Disrupting Health Care

    by Deborah Blagg

    In The Innovator's Prescription, Clayton Christensen and his coauthors target disruptive innovations that will make health care both more affordable and more effective. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 04 Sep 2007
    • Research & Ideas

    Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage

    by Lynda M. Applegate

    Fostering innovation in a mature company can often seem like a swim upstream—the needs of the existing business often overwhelm attempts to create something new. Harvard Business School professor Lynda M. Applegate shows how one of the forces that threatens established companies can also be a source of salvation: disruptive change. Plus: Innovation worksheets. Key concepts include: Jumpstarting innovation is a critical business imperative. Executives realize that radical change is needed but do not feel equipped to make such change. Disruptions in the business environment allow new entrants or forward-thinking established players to introduce innovations that transform the way companies do business and consumers behave. Disruptive changes that might serve as the source of innovation include technology shifts, new business models, industry dynamics, global opportunities, and regulatory changes. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 15 Sep 2003
    • Research & Ideas

    The Lessons of New-Market Disruption

    by Clark Gilbert

    Teradyne was successful. Hewlett-Packard was not. Professor Clark Gilbert writes about how two companies had such different results with disruptive innovation. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 09 Mar 2003
    • Research & Ideas

    Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation

    by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor & Scott D. Anthony

    Managers know they need growth to survive—but innovation isn't easy. In this classic Harvard Management Update article from 2003, Clayton Christensen and co-authors detail the six keys to creating new-growth businesses. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

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