21/09/2021
DIFFERENTIATING DISRUPTIVE FROM SUSTAINING INNOVATION
The concept of disruptive innovation was coined by Clayton Christensen in 1995.
Disruptive innovation refers to a concept, product or service that creates a new value network either by disrupting an existing market or creating a completely new market. At the inception of the process, there could be a low performance of a product but as people’s knowledge about the product, service or concept increases so will be customer satisfaction.
In an economy like Guyana, we can take the example of GTT. While their customer services remain poor, implementing the MMG service can be seen as a disruptive innovation. You no longer do not need to go and purchase a phone card to top up your phone. Also, despite its poor customer services, the MMG initiative, although still not perfect and cannot be compared to pioneer mobile money providers such as Safari com of Kenya and MTN of Uganda, this disruptive innovation has slowly but steadily captivated the interest of the business people who would want to make payments without wasting time either in the bank or lines at bill payment centers. As this method takes hold even in the rural parts of the country, it threatens to disrupt traditional money remittances service providers such as the Guyana Post Office (GPO), Money Gram and Western Union.
Sustaining innovation, on the other hand, refers to the type of innovations that exist in the current market and instead of creating new value networks, it rather improves and grows the existing ones. GTT landline services can be seen in this angle. GTT has implemented no new innovations to improve landlines -yet they continue to make money for the firm. GTT simply continues to slightly improve them for example, voicemail on landlines.