Disruption theory

Disruption theory describes how incumbents are beaten by entrants who start at the bottom of the market with a simpler, cheaper offer the establishment does not take seriously, then climb upward until they take the market's core. The theory explains why well-run companies in particular are vulnerable: they listen to their best customers and invest in improvements that ignore the entry market. The scholarly criticism is serious: the evidence base leans on selected cases, predictive power is weakly demonstrated, and in everyday use the term has diluted into a synonym for any change. Useful as a warning lens, not as a law of nature.

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