Running head: DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY 1

Disruptive Technology

Javian Jagdeen, Jemar Trowers

University of Technology Jamaica

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Abstract

The paper reviews disruptive technology, its impacts on society and theoretical utilization to

push for economic growth in the Jamaican economy. The research revolved around the following

themes: Definition of disruptive technology, Examples of disruptive technology and the effects

of their inception, the effect disruptive technology is predicted to have on Jamaican society post

completion of Vision 2030 Jamaican National Development plan and how disruptive technology

could be utilized by the Jamaican government in an effort to push economic growth.

Examination of these themes shows the relationship of the disruptive technology with society

and a greater part of the economy. Many of these links have not been made explicit before, and

several of them have been misunderstood. This paper is intended to encourage further research

on disruptive technology and to inform readers about the positives and negatives of these

innovations.

Keywords: Disruptive technology, Vision 2030 Jamaican National Development Plan

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Disruptive Technology

According to (Techopedia™) Disruptive technology refers to any enhanced or

completely new technology that replaces and disrupts an existing technology, rendering it

obsolete. It is designed to succeed similar technology that is already in use. Incorporating other

scholarly definitions. A disruptive technology is one that displaces an established technology and

shakes up the industry or a ground-breaking product that creates a completely new industry from

Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen.

Lastly according to Tushman and Anderson (1986), Disruptive technologies is those

technologies that render established technologies obsolete and therefore destroy the value of the

investments that incumbents have made in those technologies.

It is safe to say that disruptive technology is one that displaces or shakes up an industry

because the technology is newer than the existing one and this poses a threat to industry

incumbents.

Literature Review

Disruptive technology has been widely studied as part of innovation. This also refers to

any enhance or completely new technology that replaces or get rid of the old one. It is designed

to succeed similar technology that is already in use.

Predominantly, disruptive technology has been recognize as one that introduces superior

technological qualities to the mainstream product and hence causes a disruption to the market of

the mainstream product. Taking Christensen’s theory into consideration he would disagree, as he

believes that a disruptive technology is one that initially has lower performance and qualities

when compared with the original product. However, as the technology develops, it will begin to

occupy a place in the market of the mainstream technology and may, indeed, surpass the original
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product in terms of performance. Christensen have also developed a new concept of disruptive

technology that with this concept he has made a highly praised and critical contribution to the

strategy literature. The impact of his thesis has been enormous both in the business and academic

communities.

According to Christensen’s thesis five important pointers are:

 A new disruptive technology initially underperforms the dominant one along the

dimensions mainstream customers in major markets have historically valued.

 Disruptive technology has other features a few fringe (and generally new) customers

value. Products based on disruptive technologies are typically cheaper, simpler, smaller,

or more convenient than those established on the dominant technology

 The leading firms' most profitable customers generally do not want and indeed initially

cannot use products based on disruptive technologies.

 The new disruptive technology steadily improves in performance until it meets the

standards of performance demanded by the mainstream market.

 New (disruptive) technology displaces the dominant one and the new entrant displaces

the dominant incumbent in the mainstream market.

Disruptive technology can have effects on careers and future works. Here are some of the

ways and explanation on how disruptive technologies can affect careers/future works.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution-1

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is essentially a digital revolution, and a revolution of

technological breakthroughs, such as Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Block

chain and the Internet of Things. Its impact will be far-reaching as it will disrupt almost every
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industry in every country, emerging or developed. It is this fear of being disrupted and rendered

irrelevant that is keeping industry executives up at night.

The future of work-

There are widespread fears that automation will displace and replace humans in the

workplace (instead of just augmenting them).The good news is that based on research, less than

five percent of all occupations can be fully automated using currently available technology. The

bad news is that for around sixty percent of existing jobs, at least thirty percent of their activities

can be automated by robots.

Democratization of Work-

One consequence is that companies will adopt a variety of working arrangements to

flexibly meet their business needs. Some of these new and old types of employment relationships

include full-time employees, part-time or contract staff, offshoring and near-shoring, volunteers,

freelancers, robots, artificial intelligence, and more.

Anticipate skills in high demand-

Besides identifying job opportunities of the future, it is important also to adopt a growth

mind-set. Be prepared for lifelong learning that is, to continuously un-learn old skills, and re-

learn new ones. In particular, we should focus on skills that are likely to be in high demand in the

new ten years.

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[Include a period at the end of a run-in heading. Note that you can include consecutive

paragraphs with their own headings, where appropriate.]

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Disruptive technologies and the impact on the economy.

Disruptive technology is likely to play a major role in improving the quality of life of

people, global economies, business models of companies. Technology is evolving at a very fast

pace. The advancement in technology is changing the way we work, live and do business.

Disruptive Innovations improve products or services in ways that the market neither

demands, nor expects, but which become rapidly recognized as the optimum consumer choice. It

therefore makes critical for business and leaders to understand the technology, build their

technical proficiency, implement technologies which matter to them and gain an advantage into

the way they manage their organization. The case study will help enlighten a more concrete

effect of disruptive technology on the economy.

Case Study - Scott Fetzer Electrical Group based in U.S. provides intelligent power

solutions with the help of innovative technology in designing, delivering and manufacturing

high-quality electrical power products. They employed a Universal Robot(UR5) to perform pick

and place tasks. It has the speed and precision of a standard industrial robot with the ability to

move around and work next to humans. It is also be used for data collection in the live testing of

new designs and push the design faster into production. They have won orders against Chinese

competitors and brought back work that used to be sourced in China owing to the advantage of

low cost and faster production. The advantage of employing UR5 is to automate monotonous and

potentially dangerous tasks. UR5 being a pace setter, reduced implementation time up to 50% for

SFEG.

Value of the global market was up to US$10.7 billion. In 2014, robot sales

increased by 29% to 230,000 units and it is the highest level ever recorded for one year. Between

2010 and 2014, the average robot sales increased by 17% per year (CAGR). Main drivers of the
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growth in sales of industrial robots were automotive industry and electrical/electronics industry.

In 2014, the average robot density in the following regions was: 85 in Europe, 79 in the

Americas, and 54 in Asia.( https://ifr.org/ifr-press-releases/).

Here it can be seen where disruptive technology has directly affected the global economy

another, more popular, example can be sourced in the smartphone market where at the launch of

apples flagship phone the iPhone X starting at US$999, gave a wakeup call of sorts to other

major brands that their flagship cellphones could be launched at such a price as shown where

Samsung’s Galaxy S9 Plus launched at $959.99USD, The Huawei P20 Pro price at launch was

$1,050USD, The Pixel 3 launch price was $899 USD.

Utilizing Disruptive Technology to push economic growth

In a theoretical effort to boost the Jamaican economy, there are several steps to which the

government can take to accomplish this task in the nearby future. The most vital of which are

investments into technology and talent.

From the Internet of Things to automation, consumers and businesses alike are seeing

more rapid disruption than any other time in our history. This requires public policy makers to be

nimble in order to react and maximize economic opportunities and results. By making

investments in the possible and upcoming disruptive technology government leaders will be able

to focus on the best ways to prepare talent, position its tax climate, change regulations and align

incentives to be best positioned for economic development opportunities.

In a technology enabled world, talent is the most important commodity. In fact, talent will

not only be the most important location decision factor for a technology business, but it also

represents the area where those businesses will invest the most money in order to ensure success.
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Due to this fact, governmental and economic development leaders have to adjust public policy to

support the development of talent. Since the more businesses invest the better the economy.

The government then needs to examine the best ways to support the retention and

attraction of talent. Investments in quality of place assets, job training (industry recognized

credentials and certifications), telecommunications infrastructure and entrepreneurial

development programs are critical. These types of investments position areas to attract a highly

educated and sustainable workforce that meets the needs of its key business sectors.

When it comes to economic development incentive programs, technology disruption has

had a significant impact on long standing tools used by local and global governments. As an

example, most global communities tie their incentive programs to capital investment as

compared to headcount and earnings, because this is what has historically generated the most tax

dollars for them.

This will require the government to examine their approach to taxation to ensure it meets

the needs of a changing economic base. This way, incentives, forms of investment and generation

of taxes are fully aligned.

Conclusion.

Disruptive technology has began to shape the economy and society. This paper started by

noting the subtle effects brought by these innovations in the society and proceeded to portray the

careers said to be obsolete by the completion of the Vision 2030 plan. Venturing into the effects

of disrupting technology a case study showed the effects on the global market while theoretical

assumptions were made as to how Jamaicans government was to ensure economic growth by

using these innovations. Disruptive technologies will continue to bring about changes and its up

to us whether we adapt in time or be replaced with new inventions in the working world.
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Christenson, C. (1997). The Innovator’s Dilemma. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Business

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