Incremental versus Disruptive

by Hutch Carpenter

I recently wrote up a post, "Innovation Perspectives - No Shooting Stars." In it, I discussed the issue of organizations myopically focusing on only disruptive innovations to the exclusion of more incremental or sustaining innovations.

In doing more research on the subject, I began thinking about the dynamics that apply when a firm pursues different kinds of innovation. A post by Venkatesh Rao, Disruptive versus Radical Innovations, was very useful for distinguishing between disruptive and radical innovations.

Building on that, I wanted a framework for delineating innovations based on their technology and business impacts. Because they're not necessarily the same. The four quadrants below describe the dynamics for innovations according to their technology and market impacts:

In each quadrant, there are different rationales and issues that apply. Let's take a look.

Amazon has been eating Barne's & Noble's lunch for almost a decade, now. B&N have finally taken off the gloves. (Excuse the mixing of metaphors.)

How? With Barnes & Noble's Nook, an eBook reader/device. These guys did a great job on this product. It's like an iPhone and a Kindle mated and had an offspring. Click the link above to read all the details.

Killer feature: you can lend an eBook to someone! Plus: wifi, try it in a store (after Nov 30), touch-screen navigation panel...more on the site.