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Successful Development and Commercialization of Technological Innovation: Insights Based on Strategy Type
Author(s) -
Slater Stanley F.,
Mohr Jakki J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of product innovation management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1540-5885
pISSN - 0737-6782
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5885.2005.00178.x
Subject(s) - commercialization , new product development , product (mathematics) , citation , value (mathematics) , computer science , library science , marketing , business , mathematics , machine learning , geometry
ow can market leaders avoid the innovator's dilemma and continually develop disruptive innovations to retain their leadership posi- tion? We argue that the capability to successfully de- velop and commercialize one type of disruptive innovation—technological innovation—is based on the interaction between a firm's strategic orientation (Prospector, Analyzer, Defender) and (1) its selection of target market; and (2) the way it implements its market orientation. The insights offered by this framework assist in predicting whether a firm's stra- tegic orientation enhances or thwarts its ability to successfully commercialize disruptive innovations and also suggests the development of critical, yet contra- dictory, skill sets in order to remain successful over time. How can industry leaders reinvent themselves by developing and successfully commercializing disrup- tive innovations that challenge their existing business models? Known as the innovator's dilemma, Christen- sen (1997) argued that market leaders have difficulty diverting resources from the development of sustain- ing innovations, which address known customer needs in established markets, to the development of disrup- tive innovations, which often underperform estab- lished products in mainstream markets but offer benefits some emerging customers value. Christensen's (1997) initial research focused prima- rily on technological innovations, broadly defined as those that introduce a different set of features, per- formance, and price attributes relative to existing products and technologies. In other words, techno- logical innovations create new products based on new underlying technological underpinnings. Over time, further developments improve the new technology's performance on the attributes mainstream customers do value, to a level where the new technology begins to cannibalize the existing technology. This progres- sion reflects the classic S-shaped curve prevalent in the