ABSTRACT
Continuous aim gunfire in the US Navy was a sustaining innovation in which new technologies helped perform existing missions better, and not change them radically. Although the dependent variable of this thesis is disruptive innovation, this case is examined from among the Navy studies for three reasons. First, it presents the earliest case assessing how technology produced fundamental changes in capabilities and tactics in naval warfare. Second, this case provides a ‘natural experiment’ of a sustaining case that can test the proposition that product champions of disruptive innovation manage the process differently than they would if were they promoting a sustaining innovation. Third, the case offers an excellent opportunity to assess the value of civilian intervention and the so-called ‘maverick’ and ‘zealot’ product champion in the innovation process.
