Countering Disruptive Innovations

Countering disruptive innovations is critical for bolstering a business’ continuity and sustainability. Unfortunately, as theories on how to counter disruptive innovations remain largely underdeveloped, the identification of meaningful business models that can be replicated to counter disruptive innovations also seems a challenge that still confounds most of the contemporary business executives. It is such a challenge that this research sought to address by using a meta-synthesis to analyse the strategic management and marketing theories to identify a combination of strategies that can constitute a business model that the executives can replicate to counter disruptive innovations. To counter disruptive innovations, findings revealed proactive strategic analysis and sensing to be of essence for identifying unfilled low-end or new-market footholds that can be filled through new value innovations before disrupters are able to do so. It is further posited that such initiatives must be accompanied with product modifications to enrich the features, quality, designs and functionality of the existing products to counter the disrupters’ gradual creep into the incumbents’ mainstream up-markets. Besides assimilation of disrupters’ unique technologies and competencies through acquisitions and strategic alliance and partnership with disrupters, incumbents can also pursue organic assimilation of disrupters’ unique technologies and core competencies through extensive investments in R&D. The paper concludes with the suggestion of a business model that businesses can replicate to counter disruptive innovations.