The Innovator's Solut!on: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth

Where The Innovator’s Dilemma was about theory, this is about implementation-a recipe for managers looking to lead successful companies. Christensen admirably tackles the complex problem of guiding a company through times of disruption. There’s a lot here, but the essence is that if you want to succeed, start with an idea that is somewhat profitable and go after customers who are under-served, either because no product exists that fits their needs, or they’re the least profitable segment of an established market. If you want to make a lot of money, you need to have a product that is “not-yet-good-enough” so that your firm can compete on quality and innovation as opposed to cost.

Christensen advises against purely causal management-picking executives who have succeeded before or following the latest reorganization fad. He is particularly opposed to ‘focusing on our core competencies’ as the kind of accounting trick that hollows out a company over the long term. The kind of foresight required to move towards where the market is going rather than where it’s been isn’t easy to acquire, the insight and flexibility needed to switch strategies in midstream is even harder to find, but Christensen makes a compelling argument that good management is possible.