Great companies can fail—not because they do anything wrong, but because they do everything right. Meeting customers' current needs leads firms to reject breakthrough innovations-"disruptive technologies" that create the products and opportunities of the future.

Radical thinking . . . and a wake-up call. Citing examples from many industries (computers, retailing, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, steel), Clayton M. Christensen explains how to avoid a similar fate. He presents strategies for determining when not to listen to customers, when to pursue small markets at the expense of larger ones, and other ways to ensure long-term growth and profit. This award-winning book shows managers the changes that may be coming—and how to respond for success.

Original material © 1997, 2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Published by arrangement with Harvard Business School Press.

CLAYTON M. CHRISTIENSEN is an associate professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty, he was chairman and president of Ceramics Process Systems Corporation. He holds degrees from Brigham Young University and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes scholar. He lives in Belmont, Massachusetts.