Theories of Destructive Technologies for Industrial and Corporate Change: A Short Overview with Strategic Management Implications in Competition

What is a disruptive innovation? This study confronts this question here by presenting different approaches, which endeavor to explain the dynamic behavior of disruptive technologies in competitive markets. Firstly, this study introduces destructive technology as a radical innovation, based on new products and/or processes, which with high technical and/or economic performance destroys the usage value of established techniques previously sold and used in markets, generating technological, industrial, economic and social change. Then, this study explains the behavior of disruptive technologies with different models: approach of revolutionary innovation by Abernathy and Clark, disruptive technologies by Christensen, competitive substitution by Fisher and Pry, predator-prey relation by Farrell and killer technology by Coccia. These approaches are in many ways complementary and a full understanding of the characteristics of disruptive technologies in markets requires an appreciation of all approaches and more. Finally, this study shows some consequences of disruptive innovation for new entrant, incumbent firm and markets in a setting of competition with firm-level strategies for sustaining and safeguarding competitive advantage.