High-end disruptive technologies with an inferior performance
Journal article, 2011

The literature on disruptive technologies has previously stated that those innovations often emerge in low-end segments or in new markets and as the performance improves it eventually displaces the old technology. This article aims to explain how and why a technology may prosper in high-end or mainstream markets despite its initially lower performance and does so through three in-depth case studies. The findings suggest that those technologies may compensate the inferior performance by simplifying and removing work for customers. For instance, digital imaging emerged in high-end segments since these customers were willing to trade-off the initially lower image quality in order to remove the usage of film. Based upon these results, the paper concludes that the literature on disruptive technologies needs to maintain a more nuanced view of value and how it is created and distributed inside the customer's organisation.

digital imaging

performance

Facit

high-end

Hasselblad

disruptive technology

inferior

IP video surveillance

Author

Christian Sandström

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Innovation and R&D Management

International Journal of Technology Management

0267-5730 (ISSN) 1741-5276 (eISSN)

Vol. 56 2-4 109-122

Subject Categories

Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified

DOI

10.1504/IJTM.2011.042977

More information

Created

10/7/2017