THE IMPACT OF SUSTAINING AND DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES ON THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of innovations and sustaining and disruptive technologies in the development process of companies in Brazil. According to Clayton Christensen, innovations and sustaining technologies may be radical or incremental, expensive or cheap, software or hardware, components or architectural, and may form or destroy skills. They may involve huge technological changes, but, as they have little organizational impact, usually large companies carry them out and end up by presenting to the market products which offer more than it desires or requires, at high prices. These companies may have problems when there appears a disruptive technology, which brings to the market a proposal which is very different to those of the reigning sustaining technologies. They are in general applied to simpler, smaller products, which have an lower short-term performance, but which are frequently more convenient and cheaper. Examples include the appearance of transistor technology in relation to vacuum valves and their application in various sectors, and small off-road Japanese motorcycles, which are based on disruptive technology in relation to the powerful traditional on-road motorcycles such as Harley Davidsons and BMWs. Two development processes of essentially different products were examined: those of Embraer and those of Natura, through the strategy of case studies. Initially, a conceptual review was made on innovation and technology, emphasizing the sustaining and disruptive types, in addition to product development. Then a wider collection of primary and secondary information on the companies was made, which was complemented by consultations with executives. As a result, a number of insights are made which may contribute to the efficiency of the product development process to the extent which this research strategy allows.