ABSTRACT
A sustaining technology has the opposite effect on incumbents compared to a disruptive technology in that, rather than displace established products, a sustaining technology is an incremental improvement in established products that helps them get even more entrenched. The primary emphasis of the disruptive technologies model is on using the technology to develop products that customers find valuable. Emphasis is on getting the technology right that is, the emphasis of the disruptive innovation model is on developing superior products, the types of products that customers want. The wealth that personal computers (PCs) created for investors and users, the productivity increases that stem from the PC, the wealth created for software developers and chip makers, the non-monetary uses of PCs, and so on, make the loss of a few minicomputer makers trivial. Sometimes, the value of a disruptive technology to society is in what the new technology does not do.
