guardian: the microsoft elephant dancing

nov 6th

the spectacle of microsoft attempting to adjust. a good analysis.

i liked the reference to clayton christensen. most interesting person. a mormon, and a pioneering intellect.

the christensen paper that i have found most interesting is the one in which he analyzes the disk drive industry. it is not a sample, but a survey, in which he looks at all 132 players in that industry. he finds that time after time, innovation comes not from the leader of the current generation product, but from an upstart which brings in a low-end product which soon enough displaces the current product.

there are some conditions: the new product must have a sharp growth curve so that it is rapidly able to substitute for the current product. at introduction, it may not be able to substitute, but it does so soon.

christensen has a relatively new (2004) book out: 'seeing what's next: using theories of innovation to predict industry change'. i am planning to get hold of it. has anyone read it? any comments?

btw, i just got hold of an extremely interesting book from the world bank institute. haven't read it fully yet, just a few chapters:

india and the knowledge economy: leveraging strenths and opportunities, by carl dahlman and anuja utz, 2005

it has tons of good data, and you'll see me quoting it widely in my future columns.