如何走出創新者的窘境
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????如果說商界中人個個都對“創新者的窘境”耳熟能詳，非常了解它是怎么發生的，如何讓不少成功的大公司走進死胡同，那為什么無數商業領袖依然難逃此劫呢？ ????17年前，哈佛大學(Harvard University）的克萊頓·克里斯坦森出版了《創新者的窘境》(The Innovator's Dilemma)一書。但時至今日，我們依然看到許多公司前赴后繼地跳進這個陷阱，眼睜睜地看著自己無法脫身。一個最新的例子是美國膠合板產業。在中國廉價進口貨品的沖擊下，美國硬木膠合板制造商正在遭遇滅頂之災，所以它們抱團取暖，懇請美國國際貿易委員會(U.S. International Trade Commission，簡稱ITC)宣布中國制造商正在傾銷膠合板（即以“低于公允價值”的價格在美國銷售商品），同時要求它制止這種行為。11月，ITC拒絕了這項請求。心有不甘的膠合板制造商們正在就此裁決提出申訴。它們說，來自中國的競爭壓力在某種程度上導致膠合板制造商在過去4年流失了25,000個工作崗位。 ????《今日美國》( USA Today)最近一篇報道援引一位高管的話，非常簡潔地描述了這個行業衰落的真相：“最初涌入的中國產品價廉質劣，但隨后變得越來越好，一步步地爬向食物鏈的上游。” ????當然，這恰恰是創新者窘境的演變方式。正如克里斯坦森的如椽大筆所述，處于市場領導地位的成功企業往往樂于把低端市場讓給那些制造價廉質劣產品的新競爭對手，因為這些產品的利潤率往往最低；放棄這類產品可以增加市場領導者自身的整體利潤率。但蓄謀篡位的競爭對手正在獲得規模經濟優勢，同時不斷創新經營方式，開始進軍更高一級的產品類別。市場領導者或許也樂意放棄這個品類，因為這樣做可以進一步提升整體利潤率。 ????也就是說，“市場破壞者”變得越來越好，不斷地爬向食物鏈的上游。市場領導者（比如美國的膠合板制造商）通常直到深陷困境之際，才如夢方醒。 ????早在17年前，克里斯坦森就描述了這一幕降臨到鋼材、建筑設備等諸多行業頭上的情形。此外，他還描述了許多聰穎過人的成功企業家落入這個陷阱的情形。這部著作是過去50年最重要的商業書籍之一，已經成為一本超級暢銷書，書名本身也已經成為人們頻頻使用的商業詞匯。但就如何避免陷入“創新者的窘境”而言，似乎沒有證據表明經理人有了哪怕一丁點的進展。 ????看看約翰?錢伯斯為避免這個陷阱而進行的新穎嘗試，將會很有啟發性。眼下，一種名為“軟件定義網絡”(software-defined networking)的新技術正在強勢崛起，情形看起來就像是一個經典的創新者窘境。身為網絡市場領導者的思科公司(Cisco)公司感受到了威脅，于是公司CEO的錢伯斯召集一批工程師，加入一家新成立的獨立公司，找出擊退市場破壞者的策略。 ????這種方法聽起來前景光明，甚至有可能真的行得通。倘若如此，我們將面臨一個值得關注的問題：有沒有人能從中學到點什么呢？（財富中文網） ????譯者：葉寒???? |
????If absolutely everyone in business knows about the innovator's dilemma -- how it works, how it often dooms big, successful companies -- then why is avoiding it still so extraordinarily hard for business leaders? ????Harvard's Clayton Christensen published The Innovator's Dilemma 17 years ago, yet we continue to see companies marching into the buzz saw, eyes wide open, apparently helpless to save themselves. The latest example is, of all things, the U.S. plywood industry. The makers of hardwood plywood were getting killed by cheap Chinese imports, so they banded together and petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission to declare that Chinese makers were dumping -- selling something in the U.S. at "less than its fair value" -- and to put a stop to it. The ITC turned them down in November. The plywood makers, who are appealing the decision, say they've had to eliminate 25,000 U.S. jobs over the past four years partly because of Chinese competition. ????What actually happened to the industry is described pithily by an executive quoted in a recent USA Today article: "The Chinese came in with a low-price, low-quality entry, then got better and better and worked up the food chain." ????That is of course precisely how the innovator's dilemma plays out. As Christensen powerfully showed, successful incumbent companies are often happy to cede the bottom of the market to new competitors making cheap, crummy products because those products often earn the lowest profit margins; by dropping out of those categories, the incumbents increase their own overall margins. But the insurgent competitor is gaining economies of scale while innovating ways to compete in the next higher category. Incumbents may be happy to let that category go too, because doing so will again raise their overall profit margins. ????That is, the insurgents get better and better, working up the food chain. The incumbents -- the plywood makers, for example -- typically don't wake up until they're in deep trouble. ????Christensen showed 17 years ago how that scenario has played out in steel, construction equipment, and many other industries. He described how smart, successful executives fall into the trap. His book, one of the most significant business books of the past 50 years, became a mammoth bestseller, and its title entered the language. Yet no evidence seems to suggest that managers have improved even a little at evading one of business's most disastrous blunders. ????It will be instructive to watch John Chambers' intriguing attempt to avoid the trap. Threatened by the rise of a new technology called software-defined networking, in what looks like a classic innovator's-dilemma situation, the CEO of networking incumbent Cisco (CSCO) has assembled a group of engineers into a new, free-standing company to figure out how to defeat the insurgents. ????The approach sounds promising. It might even work. If it does, we'll face the really interesting question: Will anyone learn from it???? |
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