Small but not least changes: The art of creating disruptive innovations

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, product innovation arises through the replacement of outdated technologies with novel advancements or through technological recombination. This study employs a genetic framework to represent products, extracting chromosomal data to construct a comprehensive product influence network of automobiles using a phylogenetic approach. By introducing the “Product Disruption Index” —inspired by the D index—into the product similarity space, we measure a product’s disruptiveness. Our findings on the decline in disruptiveness of automotive products align with trends observed in previous studies on patents and publications, and the Product Disruption Index is further validated and its credibility reinforced through two compelling case studies. Our statistical analysis reveals that disruptive innovations often arise from minor yet pivotal modifications. Furthermore, inheriting superior technologies from predecessors and making slight adjustments to key technologies are more effective in enhancing a product’s disruptiveness than extensive technological changes. Indeed, small steps taken on the shoulders of giants can lead to significant breakthroughs in disruptive innovation.