Disclaimer up front: I work for a Tesla competitor.
Christensen's work after Innovator's Dilemma indicates that disruptive innovations include a new 'Core Technology' or 'Core Business Process'.
It is not yet clear that Tesla has either of those.
At present, Tesla is building and selling cars in a manner basically indistinguishable from competitors, excepting (so far) scale.
Some of Tesla's Tech (advanced automation) and Business Processes (especially the lack of dealerships, possibly their vertical integration) could be disruptive; we will have to wait and see if they can exploit these at scale.
As a comparison, look at Toyota in the 80's to the 00's. Through continuous improvement, they made their small, simple cars the best on the road. This could be thought of as disruptive; but then they went up-market to achieve better margins. As they did this, they became a lot more like their competitors. The competition started taking notice and adopted variations on the Toyota Production Method.
At this point, Toyota and their competitors (excepting Tesla) share basically all of the core technology and business processes.
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If you want to think about what Tesla will do in the future, and what advantages they have in the future, that's fine. Just realize that the future is another country.
It does seem like it, but it really only seems like it.
To be sure, the technologies used in the propulsion system of a battery electric vehicle are very different from the technologies of an internal combustion engine drive train; however the electric propulsion system is basically a straight replacement of the ICE drivetrain.
The vehicle still performs the same job, in basically the same way.
A new Core Technology would be self-driving cars, or a completely automated manufacturing plant - both things that Tesla may have in the future
It's a different set of parts, but it's the same sort of business. They're still manufacturing cars in much the same ways existing cars are manufactured and selling cars in much the same way existing cars are sold and people are using cars in much the same ways as existing cars are used.
The factory has a different set of machines and builds a different power train, but the fundamentals of the business are not any different.
Christensen's work after Innovator's Dilemma indicates that disruptive innovations include a new 'Core Technology' or 'Core Business Process'.
It is not yet clear that Tesla has either of those.
At present, Tesla is building and selling cars in a manner basically indistinguishable from competitors, excepting (so far) scale.
Some of Tesla's Tech (advanced automation) and Business Processes (especially the lack of dealerships, possibly their vertical integration) could be disruptive; we will have to wait and see if they can exploit these at scale.
As a comparison, look at Toyota in the 80's to the 00's. Through continuous improvement, they made their small, simple cars the best on the road. This could be thought of as disruptive; but then they went up-market to achieve better margins. As they did this, they became a lot more like their competitors. The competition started taking notice and adopted variations on the Toyota Production Method.
At this point, Toyota and their competitors (excepting Tesla) share basically all of the core technology and business processes.
---
If you want to think about what Tesla will do in the future, and what advantages they have in the future, that's fine. Just realize that the future is another country.
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