Warding Off the Threat of Disruption

Innovation scholar Joshua S. Gans argued in MIT SMR that established businesses have more time than they may think to respond to innovations that may prove disruptive. But a software executive questions that advice.

Daniel Cohen and Joshua S. Gans

WINTER 2017

How quickly do companies need to respond to innovations that could upend their markets? In “Keep Calm and Manage Disruption,” an article in the spring 2016 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review, Joshua S. Gans argued that companies may have more time than is commonly believed. For example, his research suggested that established companies can often employ a “wait and see” approach, and if a new technology demonstrates its potential, the incumbent can ...