The disruptive innovation theory’s core concepts have been widely misunderstood and its basic tenets frequently misapplied.
What are those basic tenets? Putting it as simply as I can, there are three necessary conditions:
1. There’s a small, scrappy start-up that is taking on the big guys with a new business model.
2. There’s a new class of low-end customers who are either over-served by established companies (that are always trying to please their best customers) or not being served at all.
3. There’s a technological accelerant that gives the little guy an edge he can use to move up-market. By the time the big guys realize they’re in danger, it’s already too late.
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