The Flaw in Christensen Management Theory
October 17, 2013
Could the Big Guru in management have made a miscalculation? Clayton Christensen is rightly revered for his contributions to the business field, particularly his theory of disruption. Nobody’s perfect, however; strat?chery tells us “What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong.”
The professor’s blind spot is perfectly illustrated by his thoughts on certain Apple products; he thought there was no way either the iPod or iPhone would be successful. Writer Ben Thompson delves into why Christensen’s theories led him to faulty predictions about Apple. The key point—people are not businesses. The article asserts:
“Christensen’s theory is based on examples drawn from buying decisions made by businesses, not consumers. The reason this matters is that the theory of low-end disruption presumes:
- Buyers are rational
- Every attribute that matters can be documented and measured
- Modular providers can become ‘good enough’ on all the attributes that matter to the buyers
“All three of the assumptions fail in the consumer market, and this, ultimately, is why Christensen’s theory fails as well.”
Elaborating on the second point, Thompson quotes his own words from a 2010 paper. Regarding a feature of the iPod that is difficult to measure, he wrote:
“Apple’s focus on user experience as a differentiator has significant strategic implications as well… namely, it is impossible for a user experience to be too good. Competitors can only hope to match or surpass the original product when it comes to the user experience; the original product will never overshoot (has anyone turned to an ‘inferior’ product because the better one was too enjoyable?)”
Since individual consumers are more likely to care about ease of use than are buyers for a business, this is a good example of purchasers’ different priorities. See the thorough article for more of Thompson’s reasoning and examples.
Cynthia Murrell, October 17, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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