Disruptive innovation from the perspective of innovation diffusion theory

ABSTRACT

Since it was first proposed by Christensen, disruptive innovation theory has provoked considerable debate in academia and industry. Initially limited to low-end innovations, most of the controversy around the theory has focused on other types of innovations that the theory excludes. This article examines both high-end and low-end disruptive innovations. Instead of technological development, the focus of analysis is on market groups, known as adopter categories. Adopter groups have various characteristics and sizes that play a critical role in the diffusion process of disruptive innovation. In addition, high-end and low-end should be very different in terms of relative advantage, one of the innovation attributes influencing the rate of adoption. To successfully ‘disrupt’ an incumbent, an innovation should have the potential to cross a critical chasm between early niche markets and majority mainstream markets. We conducted case studies on the rigid disk drives and the computer industry to illustrate the analytical approach based on the innovation diffusion process theory and the characteristics of various adopter categories.

KEYWORDS:

• Disruptive innovation
• innovation diffusion
• adopter category
• relative advantage

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan: [Grant Number MOST 108-2410-H-155-017].

Notes on contributors

Jonathan C. Ho

Jonathan C. Ho is professor and dean of the College of Management, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan. Prior to current position, he was technology researcher of the Industry Technology Research Institute and quality manager of Applied Materials Inc. Dr. Ho received the B.S. degree from Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan. His graduate degrees include the M.S. degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia, the M.S. degree in Engineering Management, and the Ph.D. degree in Systems Science: Engineering Management from Portland State University. His research interests include strategic management of technology, technology evaluation and forecasting, and technology marketing and ventures.