Clayton Christensen: Disruptive innovation

Saïd Business School, University of Oxford0 HN recommenders · 2019–2023
455K views · lecture · evergreen · Uploaded 2013-06-19

Clayton Christensen explains his theory of disruptive innovation at Oxford's Said Business School, using examples from steel, Toyota, Sony, Walmart and Godrej. He applies the theory to why some economies stagnate and others grow.

HN uses it as a reference for disruption theory when explaining why incumbents like VW or BlackBerry decline.

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3 comments from Hacker News

@hobo_mark2019 · in “Apple’s New Mac Pro to Be Made in Texas”

Was it a lecture by Clayton Christensen by any chance? (can't find the lecture I had in mind but this one mentions the same part in passing) [VIDEO]

@ajflores16042020 · in “A new company promises a 5G keyboarded BlackBerry in 2021”

Oh man Thank You. I came across this video ( [VIDEO] ) years ago and I've haven't been able to find it again since. Your comment gave me enough of a breadcrumb to finally track it down

@fxtentacle2023 · in “Volkswagen says its core VW brand is 'no longer competitive' financially”

I believe VW is failing like this: [VIDEO] (talk Disruptive innovation by Clayton Christensen). VW used to be the cheap option for the masses, hence the name "Volkswagen" = "people car". They could then successfully push out competitors by gradually raising quality and prices. But by now, VW is one of the most premium brands in Germany. So their usual "raise quality and prices" strategy has stopped working. My parents' generation loved their VW Golf, which back then was a cheap car for students. But nowadays, a new VW Gold can cost €44000 which is completely out of reach for most students and young adults. Similarly, they used to have ads mocking the fact that a VW Transporter was an extremely popular family car used for vacations and camping trips. At €90000 for a Volkswagen Transporter (version 7), it's now become more of a status symbol or collector's item. Actual families will buy a €8000 Dacia transporter. And in line with Christensen's talk, it looks like Dacia is now scaling up quality and raising prices, thereby pushing VW out of the budget market into the much smaller premium segment.