MOTO, Disruptive Innovation and Design

My studies lead me to fascinating theories and case studies that often align well and often create more questions than answers.

Take MOTO, or Motorola for instance. Today, Motorola is creating significant inroads in their market with the Razr and line extensions from that product, including the Q, Slvr and the Pebl. After years of virtually no innovation (since the StarTac flip phone), Motorola was able to revive their business with revolutionary new products.

Clayton M. Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma" and co-author of "The Innovator's Solution" puts forth that there are two ways to innovate, "Sustaining Innovation" and "Disruptive Innovation". The line between the two appears fairly defined, however, for a company like Motorola and their recent wins with the previously mentioned products, it begs the question, "are Motorola's recent successes due to "Sustaining Innovation" or "Disruptive Innovation"?

Or, have his theories from the late 90's been trumped by something new altogether - Sustained Innovation with a focus on Disruptive Design?

It is fair to say that what Motorola has done falls into the "Sustaining" category. Aside from smaller, more powerful chips which follow Moore's Law - a sustaining theory - there is nothing disruptive about the technology itself.

What is disruptive is Motorola's Design Innovation. A surge in the importance of design is very evident today and it is becoming an important part of any companies strategy. Christensen asserts that companies that stumble are too focused on their customers needs and desires, too focused on their business model and a host of other reasons that keep their head down and miss important changes in the market - disruptive innovations. This is certainly true and a risk for companies, particularly the size of Motorola. However, the rules may be changing and while companies certainly should heed Christensen's warning and keep an eye on disruptive technology, it may will be more cost effective and low risk to focus effort on disruption of the existing market with sustaining innovation driven by disruptive design.

References: "The Innovator's Delimma" Clayton M. Christensen, 1997, "The Innovator's Solution" Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor, 2003, "Moto's Mojo" Chuck Salter, Fast Company, April 2006