An Alternative to Creative Destruction

We publish many articles celebrating the process of innovation, for good reason: Companies that fail to stay ahead of consumers’ evolving needs are unlikely to thrive. But there’s a negative aspect to this process that we sometimes fail to acknowledge. Innovation is often a zero-sum game, in which one company’s success leads to a competitor’s failure, causing pain for employees, investors, and communities. In this issue W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne explore the benefits of an alternative. In “Innovation Doesn’t Have to Be Disruptive,” they write, “Under disruption and its conceptual antecedent, Joseph Schumpeter’s ‘creative destruction,’ market creation is inextricably linked to destruction or displacement. But nondisruptive creation breaks that link. It reveals an immense potential…to foster economic growth in a way that enables business and society to thrive together.” Drawing on examples such as Sesame Street, microfinance, and Kickstarter, the authors, whose new book is Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth Without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs (Harvard Business Review Press, 2023), offer ways to identify nondisruptive opportunities as an antidote to a competitive mindset based on anxiety. “The idea that we can create new markets and grow without disrupting others,” they write, “suggests that business does not have to be a destructive, fear-based, win-lose game.” Thanks for reading.

An Alternative to Creative Destruction

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