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The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth Hardcover – September 1, 2003
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In his international bestseller The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen exposed this crushing paradox behind the failure of many industry leaders: by placing too much focus on pleasing their most profitable customers, these firms actually paved the way for their own demise by ignoring the disruptive technologies that aggressively evolved to displace them. In The Innovator’s Solution, Christensen and coauthor Michael E. Raynor help all companies understand how to become disruptors themselves.
Clay Christensen (author of the award-winning Harvard Business Review article, How Will You Measure Your Life?”) and Raynor not only reveal that innovation is more predictable than most managers have come to believe, they also provide helpful advice on the business decisions crucial to truly disruptive growth. Citing in-depth research and theories tested in hundreds of companies across many industries, the authors identify the processes that create successful innovationand they show managers how to tailor their strategies to the changing circumstances of a dynamic world.
The Innovator’s Solution is an important addition to any innovation library.
Published by Harvard Business Review Press.
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarvard Business School Press
- Publication dateSeptember 1, 2003
- Dimensions6.75 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
- ISBN-101578518520
- ISBN-13978-1578518524
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Product details
- Publisher : Harvard Business School Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2003)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1578518520
- ISBN-13 : 978-1578518524
- Item Weight : 1.41 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.75 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #970,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,059 in Systems & Planning
- #2,164 in Decision-Making & Problem Solving
- #7,410 in Business Management (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors

Dr. Michael E. Raynor explores corporate strategy, innovation, and growth across a wide variety of industries. Michael is co-author with Professor Clayton M. Christensen of The Innovator's Solution, which was on The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times bestseller lists, and sole author of The Strategy Paradox, named by BloombergBusinessWeek one of the year’s 10 best business books in 2007, and The Innovator's Manifesto, released in 2011, when the Financial Times called Raynor "one of the most articulate and interesting of…strategists.”
His most recent book, The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think, co-authored with Mumtaz Ahmed, provides a rigorous, practical way for companies of all types to dramatically improve their chances of success.

Clayton M. Christensen is the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. In addition to his most recent book, Competing Against Luck, he is the author of nine books, including several New York Times bestsellers — The Innovator's Dilemma, The Innovator's Solution, Disrupting Class, and and most recently How Will You Measure Your Life?. Christensen is the co-founder of Innosight, a growth-strategy consultancy; Rose Park Advisors, an investment firm; and the Christensen Institute, a non-profit think tank. In 2011 and 2013, he was named the world’s most influential business thinker by Thinkers50.
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Customers find the book provides useful insights and recognizable elements of innovation best practices. They describe it as an easy read that is practical and informative. Many customers consider it a worthwhile purchase and a good analysis of value creation for businesses.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the theory in the book amazing with many examples. They appreciate the great insights and well-presented elements of innovation best practices. The book provides ideas and tools to achieve sustaining momentum. It lays out a promising model, and its scientific approach impresses them. The examples are very applicable, but some are stronger than others.
"...Mr. Fishers’ layout in his book, it provides a clear and useful frameworks for investors to understand what makes quality disruption, and what to..." Read more
"...If anything the book it's a very refreshing look on the strategic planning required to building new products and services...." Read more
"...our product was affordable, simple, easy-to-use, and addressed the basic needs of customers. We eliminated all the sales barriers, contracts, etc...." Read more
"...and give a deeper insight to the concepts of sustaining vs disruptive innovation and adds several elements that you have to keep in mind to set up..." Read more
Customers find the book readable and easy to understand. They say it's a must-read for both established companies looking to stay relevant and startups aiming to topple them. The framework is clear and comprehensive, providing a new way of looking at innovation.
"...is a must read for both established companies looking to stay relevant tomorrow as well as those pesky..." Read more
"...This book is very readable and offers interesting case studies but doesn't back away from confronting, debunking or advising on common and/or..." Read more
"...Surely will reread it several times, because, though the book is easy to read, the theory is so solid, that it will take some time to grasp all the..." Read more
"A very nice read and suitable for anyone wanting to disrupt any business..." Read more
Customers find the book practical and informative. They say it's easy to use, affordable, and simple to digest. The book provides a pragmatic view and comes in handy during their MBA studies.
"...Following the book, our product was affordable, simple, easy-to-use, and addressed the basic needs of customers...." Read more
"...The authors give you a pragmatic view and simple to digest contents...." Read more
"...Came in VERY handy during my MBA...." Read more
"Absolutely brilliant business book - and the best tools I have found to handle the challenge of disruption...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's value for money. They find it worth the price and provide a good analysis of value creation for businesses.
"...love their invested companies that have strong competitive moat, high profitability, keep reinvesting and growing...." Read more
"...Following the book, our product was affordable, simple, easy-to-use, and addressed the basic needs of customers...." Read more
"...look at the financial support behind product development and distinguishes "good money" from "bad money" and suggests to focus on "good money" that..." Read more
"...The chapter on "jobs for hire" is worth the cover price alone." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2024It’s highly recommended to stock investors, regardless of active or passive. For readers who have finished Mr. Fishers’ book “Common Stock, Uncommon Profits”, and Chris Mayer’s book “100 Baggers”, no doubt we may have questions about how to spot or screen the potential candidates to research and study further. More importantly, things will change. That’s a cliche. Investors love their invested companies that have strong competitive moat, high profitability, keep reinvesting and growing. However, that also maps to what this book suggested, it feels good to grow financially. While all data is delayed by years, data point does not reflect the current competitive status. Although this book, along with Innovator’s Dilemmas, may not give us exactly what makes a great investment like Mr. Fishers’ layout in his book, it provides a clear and useful frameworks for investors to understand what makes quality disruption, and what to watch out. It’s a great gift from the authors, that we can have a life-saving toolkit in our toolbox during our journey.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2009This is turning common marketing and product development wisdom on its head. The basic idea is that you should not follow the masses, go with the flow or to look at previous successes to define your future products and services. Instead look at how people use products and services in their every day life and develop something that will do it better (cheaper, faster, more pleasant).
I loved the airport example about the smart phone...for years we're sold that we need to bring all the office applications onto the berries and PDAs (think Word, Excel, PowerPoint)...your office away from office for all these road warriors. Well it turns out, people don't really care to do office work while on the road. When they have 5-10 minutes to kill at the airport people (when not talking on the phone) like to read the paper, play games, browse through magazines, check sports and stocks online and watch TV. So your competition is not the desktop applications but the newspapers, TV and the entertainment. Voila, need to figure out how to bring that onto the berries/PDA instead of how to cram rich SW apps on the screen.
Another great example was the smoothie cafe. The owners tried all the usual marketing techniques (discounts, different flavors, names) to increase sales to no success. Then they analyzed for a whole week how people use their product. They find out in the morning most people bought a smoothie as a better on-the-go breakfast alternative (coffee was not fulfilling, bananas were messy, doughnuts were less healthy, sandwiches hard to maneuver while driving etc). In the afternoon moms with kids were most of the customers. They bought a smoothie to give a healthier, more fulfilling and cheaper snack to the kids. So the owners adjusted the product to these 2 main uses instead of one universal change across the board.
The book teaches you a new way to look at competition and what you need to innovate against:
Stop looking at your direct competitors to think about innovation (if we had that feature as they did, if we had more widgets, more colors, more sizes...) instead ask yourself if people are not buying this kind of product / service, then what are they doing today to fulfill the need? And so that is your real competition. Sometimes they do nothing in which case you have a virgin territory to explore.
The book warns the change is not easy and in fact is susceptible to lot of push back. There are suggestions and practical examples on how to start implementing this new thinking in the organization.
If anything the book it's a very refreshing look on the strategic planning required to building new products and services. Definitely a great discussion point.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2014The book repeats most everything from the "Dilemma" book and, unless readers want some interesting historical examples, there is no need to read the first.
The most suitable prerequisites and circumstances for hatching successful disruptive businesses are explained in detail. These are suggested as the main route to predictable growth for existing and new companies.
The book is quite repetitive and I suspect it to somewhat oversimplify complex issues, also using a scientific language while offering theories that aren't really proven. However the ideas presented and the clearly structured content convincingly offer the reader insights into margin fluctuations in the value network and the logic of growth.
You quickly get used to the author calling him selves "we", like if the book was actually a scientific publication.
Highly recommended, also if you have already read the "Dilemma" book.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2011On the advice of a friend, I purchased this book back at the end of 2003. I read and studied everything, including the many valuable footnotes and excerpts at the end of each chapter. I highlighted the points and case studies that impressed me and made notes in the back pages as ideas came to me while reading it.
Following the principles I learned in the book, I started an eLearning company with a friend in the beginning of 2004. I had no experience in the eLearning area, but I knew what disruptive principles I wanted to implement. We built software that was for companies to quickly and easily create and track their own online training and at a disruptive cost. Our system didn't have all the bells and whistles of the competition, but we weren't targeting the top of the market, we wanted to enter at the bottom--where competitors weren't paying attention or cared, just like the other disruptive innovations cited in the book. Following the book, our product was affordable, simple, easy-to-use, and addressed the basic needs of customers. We eliminated all the sales barriers, contracts, etc. and focused on building loyalty through value. Over time, we went up the ladder in the market and sold our affordable service into divisions within Fortune 500 companies, knocking out the competition but staying true to the disruptive innovation principles. The company was sold in 2007 for $6 million.
Was this book worth the $20 or so that I paid for it? Absolutely. It's full of great material and thinking. Now that I've got the urge to start another company I'm reviewing it again, just for good measure. The principles in it are just as important as they were when I first read it.
Top reviews from other countries
Paul SimisterReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 18, 20205.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book that makes powerful points about growth through innovation
This book is mainly written about giant companies who need to grow faster than the stock market expects in order to increase the share price.
As such, is this dilemma relevant to the small business market?
The authors acknowledge they have written the book for big, established companies but state that the ideas will apply for start-up entrepreneurs.
The book is based around answering a series of questions.
1) How can we beat our most powerful competitors?
2) What products should we develop?
3) Which initial customers will constitute the most viable foundation upon which to build a successful business?
4) Which activities required to design, produce, sell, and distribute our product should our company do internally, and which should we rely upon our partners and suppliers to provide?
5) How can we be sure that we maintain strong competitive advantages that yield attractive profits?
6) What is the best organizational structure for this venture?
7) How do we get the details of a winning strategy right?
8) Whose investment capital will help us succeed, and whose capital might be the kiss of death?
9) What role should the CEO play in sustaining the growth of the business?
Each is the focus of a chapter along with answers the related questions.
The first of these recaps the lead author's earlier book, The Innovator's Dilemma. This explains why markets are vulnerable to disruptive innovation in the low margin markets and small markets. It is fascinating because the process is remorseless yet seems so logical for incumbents.
The next chapter urges market segmentation based on the job to be done by the customer. In my training, I use an example of the same person making very different choices for a restaurant for a romantic dinner, an important business lunch and a large family celebration. The use situation is often overlooked as people rush to segment by demographics or psychographics.
Ironically, because the book is old, the big example used is the Blackberry device which was later swept to one side by the development of multi-purpose smartphones.
I'm not going into each chapter in this review but I hope I've given you an indication of the scope and insight available from this excellent book.
Are all markets open to disruptive innovation. Clearly technology products like computers and mobile phones are vulnerable. The Internet has undermined retail businesses but also financial services. Office cleaning or painting and decorating haven't yet been disrupted but are robots far away?
The contents is essential both for offensive and defensive reasons. The world won't stand still so you need to understand how you can best protect what you have while also knowing how to develop the next set of products and services.
One irritation is the book describes diagrams in the book, rather than using diagrams to summarise text explanations. If you read the kindle version on a small device, like I do, you will struggle. Sadly this is a common occurrence.
What I particularly like about the book is that it's rooted in cause and effect logic. What is logical leads people in the wrong direction because they don't see the negative aspects and take actions to avoid the inevitable consequences.
This reinforces my belief that executives don't think deeply enough.
The book is written for the corporate market but with some effort it can be transferred to smaller businesses and entrepreneurs who have businesses that may be on either side i.e. they are the disruptors or they face being disrupted.
Paul Simister helps frustrated business owners who are stuck get unstuck.
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PrometeoReviewed in Mexico on February 1, 20184.0 out of 5 stars The innovators solution
Very good anlysis from many disruptirs comapny was showed along the reading of 5his book , but the end looked somehow uncertain - many doubts assaulted me after the epilogue.
AbhijeetReviewed in India on October 22, 20185.0 out of 5 stars Compete for new markets/non consumption
Amazing insights for entrepreneurs and managers of the world. The elaborate examples of disruptions across B2B and B2C is thought provoking.
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Amazon KundeReviewed in Germany on March 21, 20185.0 out of 5 stars Excellent theory
The book contains a great deal of substantive and well-researched theory, supported by data, and yet is reasonably easy to understand. The guidelines, if one wants to call them that, I sufficiently detailed to inform strategic decisions in business.
MurphyReviewed in Canada on December 18, 20165.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Excellent customer service...excellent book store!


