Margins of Defeat

CIO, June, 2007 by Derek Slater

Clayton Christensen is the business guru. He’s a Harvard prof and well-regarded author. His name is one that might hold some influence over your CEO.

The Internet is the innovation. Or at any rate, it’s the fertile ground from which innovations are growing like kudzu. Technology innovations, process innovations, lots of new stuff.

Now one of the things Christensen has said about innovations is this: The disruptive ones initially lower your margins. That’s right. A transformative new idea that changes markets, processes and workflows doesn’t usually pay off instantly for the innovator. It requires some investment in order to grow into what it will become.

Read Senior Editor Scott Berinato’s article on antiforensics, "How Online Criminals Make Themselves Tough...