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Why Your Creative Idea Isn’t All That Original (And That’s A Good Thing)

LDRLB

We tend to think that outstanding creative works or amazing disruptive innovations sprang forth into the world wholly original and unique to that industry. Star Wars is a combination of spaghetti westerns, some Flash Gordon serials, Akira Kurosawa samurai films, mixed in with a little World War II fighter jet scenes and some Muppets.

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Beyond Core Competence

Harvard Business Review

But it got stuck in its core competence of traditional film products and missed the rise of digital photography and printing. To survive, it has stopped selling film cameras, focusing on the digital ones that dominate the market. Companies that are too obsessed with design competence could suffer, especially in the developing markets.

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How the Internet of Things Changes Business Models

Harvard Business Review

To foster a conversation about the potential implications of connected experiences for designers, technologists, and business people, Albert’s team at Microsoft recently released a short film documentary called “Connecting: Makers.”. Design Disruptive innovation Internet'

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When Rising Revenue Spells Trouble

Harvard Business Review

Leaders at Kodak, Blockbuster, Research in Motion, Digital Equipment, and, perhaps now, Best Buy can explain that one of the toughest challenges about responding to disruptive change is that the full financial impact only appears when it’s too late to respond in any material way. Disruptive innovation Innovation'

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Kodak’s Downfall Wasn’t About Technology

Harvard Business Review

Today, the term increasingly serves as a corporate bogeyman that warns executives of the need to stand up and respond when disruptive developments encroach on their market. Given that Kodak’s core business was selling film, it is not hard to see why the last few decades proved challenging. .”

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Four Suggestions as You Face Your Industry's Steamroller

Harvard Business Review

Remember the scene in the first Austin Powers film where Powers, attempting to escape in a steamroller, warns one of Dr. Evil''s henchman to move out of its path? Develop scenarios of how the world might look five or ten years from now. A decade ago Oracle developed a series of scenarios that anticipated massive industry consolidation.

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Why Consumer Tech Is So Irritatingly Incremental

Harvard Business Review

Digital photography is far more convenient than developing film. So many industries have in fact reached this point that, as things stand in the 21 st century, we know very little about when a high-end disruption will succeed. The new entrant uses a different distribution channel from the incumbents.