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A Reflective Review of Disruptive Innovation Theory
Abstract
Disruptive Innovation Theory has created a significant impact on management practices and aroused plenty of rich debate within academia. Copious as the studies are, the scattered and conflicting nature of the literature on disruptive innovation in the last decade may pose a state of ambiguity for future research, thus necessitating a comprehensive review at this juncture. This paper first clarifies the basic concept and potential misinterpretations of the theory. Believing in the predictive value of the theory on firm performance, the authors then summarize and critique the research on how to enable potential disruptive innovation from internal, external, marketing and technology perspectives. The different perspectives inspired the authors to identify a number of key research directions within the disruptive innovation research domain. Potential future research is also briefly discussed by integrating disruptive innovation with other research domains, such as open innovation. Finally, in addition to theoretical contributions, the authors make practical contributions by outlining a series of potential inhibitors and enablers of disruptive innovation as managerial ‘take‐aways’.
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“The macro view of TLC understands that technological evolution, technological progression, and technological progression within industries and industry evolution are central to the technology evolution model [111,112].”
From Digitisation and the Circular Economy: A Review of Current Research and Future Trends (2018) · cites this paper as [112]
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“The next step in this cycle is the era of evolution where incremental changes are made for the selected technology. Refs. [112,113] describes these changes as evolutionary, continuous, incremental, or 'nuts and bolts' technologies.”
From Digitisation and the Circular Economy: A Review of Current Research and Future Trends (2018) · cites this paper as [112]
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“Innovations can be categorized as evolutionary or revolutionary (Osolind, 2012), sustaining or disruptive (Christensen and Overdorf, 2000; Yu and Hang, 2010).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Yu, D., & Hang, C. C.
- Affiliations
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- ORCID
- Yu, Dan
- Venue
- International Journal of Management Reviews
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-11-05
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 435-452
- ISSN
- 1460-8545 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-2370
- OpenAlex
- W2161611374
- Cited by
- 547
- References
- 93
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 50 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 62 · 2018: 61 · 2017: 60 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 29 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 34.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Management Reviews (publishedVersion)
- National University of Singapore (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Business Strategies and Innovation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Innovation and Knowledge Management
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Innovation Diffusion and Forecasting
- Keywords
- disruptive innovation, innovation theory, firm performance, open innovation, internal innovation, external innovation, marketing perspective, technology perspective
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