Abstract/Summary

The past 50 years have significantly changed the way we live our lives and interact with the world, all of it driven by the massive force of technological innovation. In order to understand what is driving this change and subsequent success, we have to examine the technological organizations at the forefront of this change. This change is not driven by organizations that are complacent and working within traditional product lifecycles. Instead, we see organizations that are willing to cannibalize themselves in order to push technology and humanity forward. So how do you pick which one is more or less likely to succeed when at first glance they all appear similar? The talent is vast, the hunger is limitless, the notion or appreciation of profitability is secondary to best. Innovation is key to the next generation of technologies and to the way we engage with the world. Disruptive innovation looks at how new entrants are able to challenge established firms whereas radical innovation looks at the creation of novel products or ideas. Extensive research has been conducted in both areas with one recurring antecedent: there are a variety of interconnected variables and complexities that work together to yield successful innovation. I postulate that the weakness of current innovation literature lies in either taking a more focused approach by reviewing innovation capability, or by integrating two aspects. This approach misses broader implications and whether or not the ability to innovate is tied to long-term success. A bulk of current innovation literature tends to focus on the product development process as it is the key element driving a firm’s ability to develop innovative products. In my opinion, this has propelled the majority of research to focus on improving this process as opposed to understanding the dynamics at the firm level. The purpose of this work is to explore the intersection between disruptive and radical innovations and attempt to understand what, if anything, can delineate which organizations are more likely to succeed amongst organizations that are both innovative and focused on disruption. The complexities surrounding the innovation phenomenon and the continual validation of the interplay between a variety of factors directed this research to take a qualitative approach in an effort to more deeply explore potential variables that lead to success. xiv The contributions of this research identify that innovative organizations that have the highest likelihood of success should at a minimum focus on innovation with tight integration at the product development level in order to continuously exploit and examine relevant markets in a quest for new opportunities. All factors remaining equal this work posits that organizations that are more likely to succeed will have the additional attributes of a trust-oriented, functionally secretive environment that welcomes failure with a minimum management hierarchy.