Essay · About 20 minute read
What Is Disruptive Innovation?
Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, and Rory McDonald · Harvard Business Review Freemium Intermediate
A dominant player with 80 percent share is almost always over-serving its most profitable customers and quietly ignoring the low end and the overlooked. This is Christensen's core map for exactly that situation: how a small entrant gets a foothold in a segment the incumbent does not care to defend, then moves up. Read it as a starting point for spotting where the giant is soft, not as a promise that disruption is easy.
- Disruption starts at the low end or in a new, underserved segment the incumbent is happy to cede, not by attacking their best customers head-on.
- Incumbents rationally chase their most profitable customers upmarket, which is what opens the door beneath them.
- The authors are strict about the term: a big new competitor is not automatically a disrupter, so use the theory to check whether your wedge is real.
