The hottest Disruption Substack posts right now

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What past disruptions tell us about Cellular Agriculture and Alternative Proteins

WeBeGreen • 1 HN point • 24 Jan 24
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability Innovation Food production Technology Disruption
  1. Incumbent industries often fail to adapt to new technologies, leading to their downfall. This trend is evident in various historical disruptions like the shift from horses to cars.
  2. New technologies can significantly disrupt entire industries, as seen with the examples of the horse industry being replaced by automobiles and the shift from whale oil to kerosene.
  3. Innovations like cellular agriculture are poised to revolutionize the food system, offering a more sustainable way to produce animal-based food items without the need for traditional agriculture practices.

Industry Transformation: Enablement, Disruption and Competitive Dynamics Along the Value Chain

Equal Ventures • 59 implied HN points • 07 Jun 21
💼 Business Transformation Disruption Industry Analysis
  1. Industry transformation involves more than just disruption; it includes enablement and impacts the entire value chain.
  2. Successful companies in industry transformation both disrupt some stakeholders and enable others within the value chain.
  3. Understanding competitive dynamics of the value chain is crucial for founders aiming to transform industries.

Ford hedges to deal with disruption

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 20 Apr 16
💼 Business Automotive Disruption Innovation Strategy Technology
  1. The auto industry is facing disruption from electric batteries, autonomous vehicles, and mobile phones. Traditional car companies like Ford are trying to catch up with new business models.
  2. The rise of mobile phones and ride-sharing apps present a challenge to carmakers' traditional business model of selling cars to individuals. Companies are exploring new approaches like car-sharing partnerships and separate business units.
  3. Ford's strategy of creating Ford Smart Mobility, LLC to focus on connectivity and mobility services is a unique response to disruptive technologies in the automotive industry. The move reflects Ford's effort to adapt to changing consumer needs and market trends.

What would it take to disrupt Facebook?

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 26 Mar 16
🕹 Technology Social media Innovation Platforms Disruption Mobile devices
  1. Platforms are hard to disrupt once established, as they have a strong network effect that keeps users loyal.
  2. Disruption can come from different angles - not just by picking off customers, but also by providing better value on the supply side.
  3. Companies need to stay agile and anticipate potential disruptions, restructuring internal teams to be ready for future threats.

Digitization and the Rise of Trump

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 03 Mar 16
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Election Media Candidates Disruption
  1. The rise of Trump is linked to digitization and social media disrupting traditional political processes, allowing unconventional candidates to gain traction.
  2. Trump's success challenges the established political norms and the power structures within his own party.
  3. Trump's approach to media and politics has deviated from the traditional 'Game of Scrutiny,' causing a shift in how political campaigns are conducted.

A Taste of Disruption

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 24 Feb 16
💼 Business Research Disruption Management
  1. Firms facing demand-side disruption have options to react and defend against the threat.
  2. Supply-side disruption requires firms to be more integrative in how they conduct their business.
  3. The articles mentioned provide a 'lite' treatment of the disruption dilemma for those seeking a quick overview.

Traditional disruption theory and predictions

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 29 Oct 15
💼 Business Disruption Theory Predictions
  1. Disruption theory can be more than just a tool for research, and some believe it can also predict when a disruptor will succeed.
  2. Views on disruption can vary, with some arguing that companies can actively pursue disruption as part of their innovation or commercialization efforts.
  3. Michael Raynor has put forth theories on disruption and innovation that are influential and open to empirical analysis.

Is Tesla Disruptive?

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 14 Apr 15
💼 Business Disruption Innovation Competition
  1. The framework to determine if a new firm like Tesla will disrupt old ones like GM or Toyota involves considering if the product targets over-served customers, if the disruptor has incentives to enter higher performance segments, and if there is a trajectory for fast performance improvements.
  2. Disruption may not necessarily occur through the same traditional pathways, such as Tesla's potential to disrupt the supply-side of the industry with architectural innovation rather than just demand-side shifts.
  3. Tesla's unique position with its electric focus and potential architectural innovation poses an existential threat to traditional car-makers, raising the question of whether they can adapt to this new challenge.

Why the iPhone confounds disruption theorists

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 28 Feb 15
🕹 Technology Disruption Innovation Smartphones Architecture
  1. Established companies like Nokia, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, and BlackBerry fell victim to disruption with the launch of the iPhone in 2007.
  2. The iPhone conflicted with the traditional disruption theory as it was not disruptive to laptops but instead to traditional handset makers by offering a new architecture and user interface.
  3. The disruption caused by the iPhone stemmed from its unique supply-side mechanisms, challenging established firms by introducing new functionalities and methods of interaction.

The Disruption Dilemma

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 23 Aug 16
💼 Business Disruption Innovation Entrepreneurship Economics Management
  1. Disruption in business can stem from new technological opportunities that incumbent firms fail to take advantage of, leading to their downfall.
  2. The concept of Creative Destruction from Joseph Schumpeter describes how capitalism thrives on constant innovation and change, challenging the idea of long-term profitability for established businesses.
  3. Innovation that disrupts industries can come in different forms, like customer-disruptive innovations that initially underperform but later improve, and architecturally-disruptive innovations that change the fundamental design of products or services.