Assessing Disruptive Innovation From the Perspectives of New Entrants and Incumbent Firms

Abstract

Disruptive innovation (DI) is evolving as a strategically significant innovation type in this current dynamic, volatile, and global competitive business environment. The theory of DI is critical in comprehending entrant-incumbent relationships and elucidating how their interplay affects the nature of the market. The fundamental aim of this study is to assess disruptive innovation from the perspectives of new entrants and incumbents using the empirical reviews approach. The chapter contends that disruption is a phenomenon whose forces are always at work, and incumbents can elude it by putting in place the prerequisite measures and having the right caliber of human resources to pre-empt and avert genuine potential disruptive threats. The study demonstrates the steps taken by upstarts to displace leading firms and the responses that can be provided by the latter against disruption. It extends its scope to significance of DI, reasons for failure of incumbents in DI battle, and barriers to effective implementation of disruptive innovation.