Companies that compete effectively in the long term in the high technology field have the ability for continuous (or more) innovation and discontinuous (or radical) innovation. The latter, which lead to the creation of entirely new businesses and product lines are a unique set of challenges for management. They usually require a long investment-intensive processes, marked by widespread uncertainty, surprises, and no guarantee of success. Traditional approaches to the development of new products, while appropriate for continuous innovation, are inappropriate and sometimes even harmful when applied to a discontinuous mode of innovation. For example, the familiar admonition to be customer-driven does not really matter where it is not clear who the customer or not, or when the product class itself does not exist. This article presents four discontinuous innovation - CAT scanners (for GE), fiber (in Corning), cellular phones (for Motorola), and NutraSweet (on Searle, now Monsanto) - that explore the development process of discontinuous innovation, and demonstrate how they differ from additional innovation. "Hide
by Gary S. Lynn, Joseph G. Morone, Albert S. Paulson Source: California Management Review 31 pages. Publication Date: April 1, 1996. Prod. #: CMR061-PDF-ENG
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