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3 Steps to Disrupt Your Industry

[I originally posted a version of this article on LinkedIn.] Do you want to unleash explosive growth?  Own a market? Crush your competition? Open up completely new markets? Be the next Apple, Tesla, Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, MinuteClinic or Sharkbite? This article describes a three-part process based on my analysis and insights of how strategic models […]

Can Disruptive Innovation Be Predicted?

Recently, Jill Lepore wrote a lengthy piece in the New Yorker magazine called, “The Disruption Machine:  What the gospel of innovation gets wrong“. She spends most of the article taking Clayton Christensen’s theory, and his scholarship, to task. [Dr. Christensen responded in an interview with Drake Bennett of BloombergBusinessWeek.] She concludes that: “Disruptive innovation is a […]

Why Elon Musk’s Gigafactory is Brilliant.

I think electric cars are the future.  I’ve driven a Tesla Roadster and a Nissan Leaf.  There are virtually no moving parts, extraordinary torque and performance, no emissions, nothing to service except brakes, tires and windshield washer fluid. All this adds up to great transportation.  The big challenge is overcoming “range anxiety” due to the […]

The Fundamental Challenge of Strategy in Technology-based Companies

We will talk in more detail about how technology is adopted, but suffice it to say that some people are more comfortable with new things than other people are.  Most of us have heard of “early adopters”, “laggards” and the like.  Figure 1 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Diffusion_of_ideas.svg] shows the classic bell curve of technology adoption; time moves to the […]

Apple and Amazon TV: The end of the cable TV monopoly?

In “Apples and Oranges: Amazon moves into the Apple TV space” appears a very interesting phrase: The unit will offer many of the same channels, or “apps” in the Amazon parlance. These include Netflix, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, SHO Anytime, Bloomberg, and Vevo. Streaming music services including Pandora and iHeart Radio should follow soon after launch. The idea of “apps” taking the role of […]