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Principles of Collective Learning: Chapter 4: Gone With The Web

The document discusses the reasons why established companies, or incumbents, often fail to compete with new entrants in their industries, using Netflix and Blockbuster as a case study. It references key works by Clayton Christensen and Rebecca Henderson on innovation and strategy, highlighting the importance of architectural innovation. Additionally, it critiques Christensen's theories through Jill Lepore's analysis of historical examples in the hard drive industry.

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guitarphilius
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3 views20 pages

Principles of Collective Learning: Chapter 4: Gone With The Web

The document discusses the reasons why established companies, or incumbents, often fail to compete with new entrants in their industries, using Netflix and Blockbuster as a case study. It references key works by Clayton Christensen and Rebecca Henderson on innovation and strategy, highlighting the importance of architectural innovation. Additionally, it critiques Christensen's theories through Jill Lepore's analysis of historical examples in the hard drive industry.

Uploaded by

guitarphilius
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

PRINCIPLES OF COLLECTIVE LEARNING

Chapter 4: Gone With the Web


But why do incumbents succumb to new entrants?
And how can we think about strategy in this context?

Clay Christensen Rebecca Henderson


Clay
Christenson
Christensen, Clayton M. The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies
cause great firms to fail. Harvard Business Review Press, 2013.
[Link]
Mark Randolph, Founder of Netflix
Reed Hastings Marc Randolph

Pure Software
First offices were a rented conference room at Best Western for $250 a week
Netflix starts in 1997 and focuses on selling & renting DVDs
John Antioco
CEO Blockbuster 2000
Netflix invents the subscription model soon after the meeting
Why incumbents fail to
compete with new entrants?

Netflix Blockbuster
Rebecca
Henderson

Henderson, Rebecca M., and Kim B. Clark.


"Architectural innovation: The reconfiguration of
existing." Administrative science quarterly 35.1
(1990): 9-30.
Rebecca
Henderson
Leonard Jeff
Henderson, Rebecca M., and Kim B. Clark. "Architectural innovation: The
Riggio Bezos
reconfiguration of existing." Administrative science quarterly 35.1 (1990): 9-30. (CEO Barnes & Noble) (CEO Amazon)
• Canonical Design

Canonical Design
Henderson, Rebecca M., and Kim B. Clark. "Architectural
innovation: The reconfiguration of existing." Administrative
science quarterly 35.1 (1990): 9-30.
Lepore’s essay criticized Christensen’s work
by carefully picking apart many of his
examples. She begins with the history of hard
drives, the subject of Christensen’s 1992
doctoral thesis. Lepore notices that the first
hard drive, “was invented at I.B.M., in 1955,
by a team that included Alan Shugart,” a man
who then founded a company that in 1976
“introduced a 5.25-inch floppy-disk drive,”
and in 1978 introduced an “an eight-inch
hard-disk drive.” After selling that business to
Xerox, Shugart founded the company that we
now today as Seagate, introducing “the first
5.25-inch hard-disk drive” in 1980. Lepore
takes issue with the fact that Christensen
classified Shugart Associates and Seagate
Technologies as new entrants into the disk-
drive business, since these were companies
founded by people who had clear experience
in the technology.

Jill Lepore, Harvard

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