The crux of the article is that Clayton Christensen has said Tesla is more of a "sustaining innovation" rather than a "disruptive innovation", but then, he said the same thing about the iPhone, apparently. The article doesn't necessarily agree with him though, in fact it presents a counter-argument from a stock analyst.
Every time somebody says something like this, I wonder to myself whether they've actually driven one? Yes, it's up against high-end cars, but that's what's amazing about it. Nobody expected an EV to compete in that segment of the market, because the prevailing perception of EVs was that of a slow boring car, something like a golf cart.
Is Tesla Motors Inc.'s Electric Car Truly Disruptive?
Clayton Christensen said:On the other hand, the electric car is not in any way disruptive. I don’t think Tesla itself thinks this way, but there are a lot of investors who do. It’s what I call a “sustaining innovation”; it makes a good product better. It’s up against the very high-end cars made by BMW and other sports cars. A disruptive innovation in electric cars, you can see coming from the bottom—from the world of golf carts. They just get better and better and better. You see them now; you see them everywhere. Ten years ago, you didn’t see them. That’s disruptive.
Every time somebody says something like this, I wonder to myself whether they've actually driven one? Yes, it's up against high-end cars, but that's what's amazing about it. Nobody expected an EV to compete in that segment of the market, because the prevailing perception of EVs was that of a slow boring car, something like a golf cart.
Is Tesla Motors Inc.'s Electric Car Truly Disruptive?