ABSTRACT
The term disruptive technology, coined by Clayton Christensen, refers to simple, often inexpensive, innovations that radically change a competitive market [Christensen 1997]. These initially inferior innovative products replace existing technologies. Low cost disruptive technologies create economic networks with synergies that encourage further innovation. New products evolve from the inferior initial implementations, and their quality eventually surpasses the technologies that they finally displace. Examples of disruptive technologies include printing presses, automobiles, digital cameras, and personal computers. The erosion of existing markets by disruptive technologies often destroys successful, once dominant, companies.
