Architectural Innovation Essay

702 Words3 Pages
Technological innovation has long centered around two concepts of development, namely incremental and radical innovation. Henderson and Clark (1990), provide an argument surrounding the notion that there are less apparent forms of innovation which can determine the success or the demise of a company. This paper brings to the light the term Architectural Innovation, which encompasses the concept of technological innovations that involve a modest change, but resulting in competitive consequences in an industry. Some companies failed to realize the implications of architectural innovation or fail to embrace it, which resulted in their demise. Despite being published 24 years ago, it still remains relevant in today’s business context. Technological innovations are rapidly entering the market, for example the recent release of the iPhone 6 by Apple. Such firms have to capitalize on any form of advantages or disadvantages to pull head in the market against competitors such as Samsung and Sony. This reflects the autocatalytic nature of technological innovation over time. Clark and Henderson state that many established firms resist architectural innovation as they fear that they would have to overhaul their current systems and processes in order to accommodate changes which result in high costs. This is mainly attributed to the emergence of a dominant design. In my opinion, it is inevitable that new entrants have the edge over established firms in terms of flexibility, receptiveness and motivation to drive into the market. The difference between new entrants and established firms is that new entrants are not burdened by the outdated beliefs and management systems as compared to established firms. Established firms will take time to identify a particular innovation as architectural because information relating to that might be screened out by information filters and

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