{"id":13993,"date":"2025-04-04T17:41:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T15:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innowerft.com\/?p=13993"},"modified":"2026-08-06T15:15:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:15:35","slug":"innovators-dilemma-when-success-hinders-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.innowerft.com\/en\/innovators-dilemma-wenn-erfolg-den-wandel-behindert\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Innovator\u2019s Dilemma and why is it relevant to businesses?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Innovator\u2019s Dilemma describes the challenge faced by successful companies in recognising and implementing disruptive innovations in good time, even though these often appear less attractive than existing products or business models at first.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The concept was coined by the scientist and management researcher Clayton Christensen. It explains why established market leaders often struggle to respond to fundamental market changes, despite their resources, experience and market position.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The key problem is that successful companies often base their decisions on the needs of existing customers and profitable business areas. Disruptive innovations, on the other hand, often initially:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>less powerful<\/li>\n<li>economically unattractive<\/li>\n<li>of little relevance to existing customers<\/li>\n<li>associated with uncertain market prospects<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result, new technologies or business models are often underestimated or deliberately overlooked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Typical characteristics of the Innovator\u2019s Dilemma are:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>Focus on existing sources of revenue<\/li>\n<li>Prioritising short-term business success<\/li>\n<li>low levels of investment in disruptive innovations<\/li>\n<li>organisational resistance to change<\/li>\n<li>gradual adaptation to new market conditions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well-known examples include companies that initially underestimated technological developments such as digital photography, streaming services or e-commerce, and subsequently lost market share to innovative competitors.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This provides important insights for businesses and start-ups:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>Innovation should be continuously encouraged.<\/li>\n<li>New technologies should be monitored and tested at an early stage.<\/li>\n<li>Short-term profitability must not hinder long-term innovation.<\/li>\n<li>A willingness to experiment and a desire to learn are key factors for success.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whilst established companies are often faced with the Innovator\u2019s Dilemma, start-ups can gain a competitive edge and challenge existing markets precisely because of their agility and openness to new technologies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">innoWerft supports start-ups and businesses in identifying opportunities for innovation at an early stage, developing new business models and ensuring long-term competitiveness through continuous innovation.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The innovator's dilemma describes a phenomenon in which successful companies ignore new, disruptive innovations or take them up too late so as not to jeopardise their existing business model. The term goes back to Clayton Christensen and explains why market leaders are often displaced by smaller, more innovative competitors. The internal conflict between short-term success and long-term innovative ability is at the centre of the dilemma.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-glossareintrag"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Was ist das Innovator\u2019s Dilemma und warum ist es f\u00fcr Unternehmen relevant? - innoWerft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Das Innovator\u2019s Dilemma beschreibt warum etablierte Unternehmen oft an disruptiven Innovationen scheitern.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.innowerft.com\/en\/innovators-dilemma-when-success-hinders-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Was ist das Innovator\u2019s Dilemma und warum ist es f\u00fcr Unternehmen relevant? 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