Why companies are troubled without

innovation and how they can learn to be

"intrapreneurial“?
Prof. Dr. Carsten Bartsch, MBA
What´s the reason, that some big market
players don´t survive?
The innovator´s dilemma – where you
can find some of the answers.

Clayton Magleby Christensen (April 6, 1952 –

January 23, 2020) was an American academic and
business consultant who developed the theory of
"disruptive innovation", first introduced in his
1997 book The Innovator's Dilemma, which has
been called the most influential business idea of
the early 21st century, and which led The
Economist to term him "the most influential
management thinker of his time." He served as
the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business
Administration at the Harvard Business
School (HBS).

Christensen was also a co-founder of Rose Park

Advisors, a venture capital firm, and Innosight, a
management consulting and investment firm
specializing in innovation
Everybody talks about disruption –
but what is it?

Disruptive Innovation:

a.) Definition in a narrow sense (e.g. by Clayton Christensen): to attack market

incumbents in a low price/low margin part of the market (which is generally of
no interest to them) and to consequently grow out of that niche.

a.) Definition in a broad sense (e.g. commonly used in current

management/entrepreneurial discussions): to enter a blue ocean market with
a significant novelty (e.g. product/service, business model, technology) that is
able to entirely “change the rules of the game”, i.e. change the market
dynamics (generally to the disadvantage of the incumbents)
Classic examples of Type a –
Lufthansa vs. Ryanair
Well known examples of Type b
So, let´s have a look at how Netflix
manages to stay successful.
And new competition is coming up
again! So, what´s next?
Competiton in markets is intensifying
over time – from blue to red ocean
markets.
Needless to say, we are living in a world
that is changing quicker than hardly
ever before. The VUCA world.
What are we talking about?
Well nice, but what are typical start-up
behaviors? Just a laundry-list of
thoughts…
 being innovative

 being quick

 being flexible

 having a strong focus on customer needs and competitive

advantage

 being hungry as a means for survival

 aiming to organize growth

 Striving for independence

 Creating a culture where all team members thinking about the

organization as “their company”

 …
 The dynamic business model canvas –
mapping future evolution.

„Nasty“ Advantage
expanded
Basis to
USP

be
„Classic“ (i.e. static) BMC approach

Time

Investment Horizon Revenue stream Horizon

Evolution
Business
Model

13
Source: Bartsch (2018) based on www.businessmodelgenerator.com.
Design thinking – one way to break the
corporate blindness.
…nevertheless it´s often being
underestimated.
Ways to institutionalize
intrapreneurship – and to ensure that
market leaders stay competitive

Source: MIT (2019).