by Saikat Chaudhuri for Knowledge@Wharton
In the digital era, even companies that have distinguished themselves as disruptors cannot afford to rest on their laurels. If they do, they face the chance of being disrupted themselves. Saikat Chaudhuri, executive director of the Mack Institute for Innovation Management and an adjunct professor of management at Wharton, examines this issue in his latest white paper, co-authored with Mack Institute research associate Pragna Kolli, titled: “Navigating Digital Disruption: How to Thrive Through Innovation Management.” Chaudhuri recently discussed the paper’s conclusions on the Knowledge@Wharton show, which airs on SiriusXM channel 111. An edited transcript of the conversation follows.Knowledge@Wharton: Tell us about the paper and what you were looking to accomplish?
Saikat Chaudhuri: I think that delving into it, digital disruption is something that’s across the board, across sectors affecting all kinds of firms. What do we mean by that? We have the cloud, we have big data, we have automation, we have artificial intelligence, robotics, additive manufacturing, mobility. What’s important about that is they are fundamentally changing the nature of products, processes and business models across different firms and industries, thereby posing a challenge but also an opportunity.
Knowledge@Wharton: But if you look historically, this disruption is not something that’s catching people off guard. If you go back 30, 40 years when the computer was just coming out, that was disruption. That truly was catching people off guard. Isn’t this something different?