When necessity is the mother of disruption: Users versus producers as sources of disruptive innovation
A substantial share of disruptive innovations actually originate with users rather than producers, contradicting the assumption that disruption always comes from outside the customer base.
Summary
Preißner, Raasch, and Schweisfurth revisit the sources of disruptive innovation using a dataset of innovations previously identified as disruptive. They find that users developed 43 percent of these innovations, with users more likely to be the source when customer preferences are volatile or when novelty is functional rather than technological. The study bridges disruptive-innovation and user-innovation research and gives managers a way to
Editor's opinion
A genuine correction to disruption theory: a large share of disruptive innovations originate with users, not producers -- an applicable strategic idea beyond the study's own sample.
Key concepts
Disruptive innovation · User innovation · Innovation source