This document may be redistributed provided that the 11 lines containing this notice accompany it. Harvard Business School Press, 1997. Incumbent companies, even well managed ones, rarely bring new, discontinuous technology to market because . . .
Disruptive technologies open new markets, and deflate or even destroy old ones.
Christensen's book develops a strong body of evidence that incumbent companies almost always lead sustaining technology to market, but virtually never lead in markets opened by disruptive technologies. Desktop PC users don't carry their machines around. They don't need a six-ounce lighter computer. They have a different set of problems. They want MORE storage, even if it makes their machine heavier.