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How Incumbents Manage Waves of Disruptive Innovations: An Exploratory Analysis of the Global Music Industry

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  • Andrea Urbinati

    (Politecnico Di Milano, School of Business, Via R. Lambruschini 4/b, Milan 20156, Italy†LIUC – Università Cattaneo, School of Industrial Engineering, Corso Matteotti, 22 – 21053 Castellanza (VA), Italy)

  • Davide Chiaroni

    (Politecnico Di Milano, School of Business, Via R. Lambruschini 4/b, Milan 20156, Italy)

  • Vittorio Chiesa

    (Politecnico Di Milano, School of Business, Via R. Lambruschini 4/b, Milan 20156, Italy)

  • Simone Franzò

    (Politecnico Di Milano, School of Business, Via R. Lambruschini 4/b, Milan 20156, Italy)

  • Federico Frattini

    (Politecnico Di Milano, School of Business, Via R. Lambruschini 4/b, Milan 20156, Italy)

Abstract

Innovation scholars have paid special attention on the managerial approaches that incumbents should adopt to promptly respond to the emergence of disruptive innovations. These approaches include, among the others, the use of open innovation or the establishment of ambidextrous organizations. However, this body of research has not analyzed how incumbents use these approaches over time, although they are very often confronted with waves of disruptive innovations that cyclically take place along the lifecycle of an industry. This paper looks into this issue through a historical analysis of the global music industry. For each of the three waves of disruptive innovations that have hit this industry over the last 15 years (i.e. digital music distribution, permanent digital download and music streaming), we analyze the reactions of incumbents in terms of managerial approaches they adopted to respond to the emergence of the disruptive innovation. Therefore, we develop a model suggesting how incumbents evolve over time their responses to cycles of disruptive technological changes.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Urbinati & Davide Chiaroni & Vittorio Chiesa & Simone Franzò & Federico Frattini, 2019. "How Incumbents Manage Waves of Disruptive Innovations: An Exploratory Analysis of the Global Music Industry," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(01), pages 1-23, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijitmx:v:16:y:2019:i:01:n:s0219877019500068
    DOI: 10.1142/S0219877019500068
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    3. Landoni, Paolo & Dell’era, Claudio & Frattini, Federico & Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio & Verganti, Roberto & Manelli, Luca, 2020. "Business model innovation in cultural and creative industries: Insights from three leading mobile gaming firms," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 92.

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