Aligning With Innovation and Disruption

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Aligning with Innovation and Disruption
Aligning with
Innovation and
Disruption
William Guevara
Through me (self as instrument) - you still 27 articles Follow
can't stop the waves, but you might learn to…
October 31, 2019
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While you need to get better and better at doing the things
your current business model required, this ability helps you
improve and gain competitive advantages. However, at the
same time, that makes more difficult your ability to disrupt
yourself to innovate and avoid disruptors.
In the end, you find yourself in a dilemma: things that make

you strengthen your current business models are the things
that can hold you back in the innovation process.
Types of invocation
When we look at the innovation and disruption phenomena

we found three types of innovation processes such as
1. Sustaining Innovation
2. Low-End Disruption
3. New-Market Disruption
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aligning-innovation-disruption-william-guevara/ 1/6
Each of them has specific characteristics that we need to

understand to be a disruptor instead of being disrupted for
someone else.
Sustaining Innovation
It consists of improving or maintaining profits margin by

exploding existing processes and cost structure and by
making use of your current competitive advantage.
It focuses on the most attractive customers in the

mainstream markets that are willing to pay for improved
performance. Being these improvements incremental or
breakthrough in character.
New technologies enable this kind of innovation.

Nevertheless, new technology is not intrinsically disruptive;
it depends on how it is deployed into the market relative to
the business models for existing products or services.
Low-End Disruption
Low-end disruptive innovations take advantage of markets

in which existing products offer more performance than
many customers want or need (performance surplus).
Almost always this trajectory of technological

progress outstrips the ability of customers to use the
progress, and so a company on the left-hand side who are
making products that are not good enough for what

customers need at one point are likely to overshoot what
those same customers could use at a later point in time.
And that propensity to overshoot what the original

customers can use then creates opportunity at the bottom
for somebody to do disruption again.
Low-end disruption doesn't create new markets. It's just a

cheaper way to do the same thing using the same channels.
New-Market Disruption
New-market disruption competes against the original

players by going after new customers that these guys are
not interested in, selling them a simple product. Customers
who historically lacked the money or skill to buy and use
the product.
It improves, and then it sucks the customers out of the

core into this new circle out there
It usually provides lower performance in traditional

attributes, but improved performance in new ones -
typically simplicity and convenience.
New-market disruptive innovation targets non-consumers

because existing products are too expensive or complicated
to use.
Implications for business strategy
If you're starting a new company or launching a new

product again, if you think that you can kill the existing
leaders in an industry with sustaining innovation, you're
wrong.
Because if you try to make better products that you could

sell for better profits to the leaders' best customers, they're
going to kill you.
But if you come to the bottom of the market in an

innovation that we call disruptive innovation, you create a
situation where the giant company is motivated to
flee, rather than fight you.
And they won't fight you because there's no profit in it.
And it's very hard for companies to pursue opportunities

where there's no profitability.
And so that's how entrant companies typically kill the

leaders of an industry is by disrupting them.
Although it may seem somewhat counterintuitive, leaving

behind low-profit businesses can sometimes open the
door to disruptors.
Harnessing Disruption
Almost never is a new technology intrinsically

sustaining or disruptive, because that is given to it
when it is deployed into a market. You can only express
these concepts of disruption or sustaining by
comparing it against something else.
It's important to note that we use disruption as

a relative term: A new product or business model is
disruptive only relative to an existing product or
business model.
Disruption is typically an opportunity long before it's a

threat.
You must begin to innovate while your core business is

still strong.
Allow disruptive businesses to run independently of

the core business.
Spot disruption by observing customers at the bottom

of the market.
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Published by
William Guevara 27 Follow

Through me (self as instrument) - you still can't stop the waves, but you might …
Published • 4y articles
While you need to get better and better at doing the things your current business
model required, this ability helps you improve and gain competitive advantages.
However, at the same time, that makes more difficult your ability to disrupt yourself
to innovate and avoid disruptors.
#strategy
#strategyandinnovation
#disruption
#innovation
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William Guevara
Through me (self as instrument) - you still can't stop the waves, but you might learn
to surf; Thought Leader Expert in Enterprise Coaching (PCC, ICE-EC)
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3/4/24, 7:08 PM (7) Aligning with Innovation and Disruption | LinkedIn

October 31, 2019

Open Immersive Reader

In the end, you find yourself in a dilemma: things that make

When we look at the innovation and disruption phenomena

Each of them has specific characteristics that we need to

It consists of improving or maintaining profits margin by

It focuses on the most attractive customers in the

New technologies enable this kind of innovation.

Low-end disruptive innovations take advantage of markets

Almost always this trajectory of technological

making products that are not good enough for what

And that propensity to overshoot what the original

Low-end disruption doesn't create new markets. It's just a

New-market disruption competes against the original

It improves, and then it sucks the customers out of the

It usually provides lower performance in traditional

New-market disruptive innovation targets non-consumers

Implications for business strategy

If you're starting a new company or launching a new

Because if you try to make better products that you could

going to kill you.

But if you come to the bottom of the market in an

And they won't fight you because there's no profit in it.

And it's very hard for companies to pursue opportunities

And so that's how entrant companies typically kill the

Although it may seem somewhat counterintuitive, leaving

Almost never is a new technology intrinsically

It's important to note that we use disruption as

Disruption is typically an opportunity long before it's a

You must begin to innovate while your core business is

Allow disruptive businesses to run independently of

Spot disruption by observing customers at the bottom

William Guevara 27 Follow

Like Comment Share 5

More from William Guevara

Is Agile Dead?... It's all about ¿Está Agile muerto?... ¡Se

¿Cuál es el poder de uno en

William Guevara on LinkedIn

See all 27 articles

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