| | |  | Guy Kawasaki | | Home » | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | "This is the most valuable book I've read in years."--Tom Peters | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| James M. Utterback | | Paperback:
| 53 pages | | Publisher:
| Harvard Business School Press | | Publication Date:
| 1996-09 | | ISBN:
| 0875847404 | | Package Length:
| 8.9 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.91 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.87 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.75 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 11 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 My favorite book on innovationAug 20, 2008
Tells the ugly truth. Companies fight disruptive innovation until they die, otherwise known as the cash cow strategy.
1 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Excellent information, eye-openingOct 27, 2005
Excellent job done by Mr. Utterback.
I had this book for a class in master's degree. I was very impressed and found that it had a huge impact on me. I am not a reader, but found myself really engrossed in this book. One of the few "textbooks" that I still recommend to friends and family. It helped me understand investing too. I have an understanding now of when industries are mature and when they are still growing. Just wish I could see it before it happens. Then I would be a millionaire and thanking Mr Utterback, not writing this review :-).
4 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Read Clayton Christensen's Books InsteadJul 22, 2005
This book covers much of the same ground that Clayton Christensen explored in his three revolutionary books: The Innovator's Dilemma, The Innovator's Solution, and Seeing What's Next. Truthfully, those books do a far superior job of explaining the dynamics of innovation in comparison to the performance of this book. Utterback does have very insightful comments on the standardization of product design, but outside of that section, the book is not particularly exemplary. For those interested in mastering the art of innovation, the game begins and ends with Clayton Christensen.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Scholarly analysis in an eminently readable enjoyable bookFeb 15, 2003
James Utterback has achieved the difficult goal of taking careful scholarship, drawing useful conclusions and presenting the whole package in a highly enjoyable book. He makes a major contribution by distinguishing between product innovation and process innovation and shows how and why the former is likely to come from outside the established industry players, while the latter is more likely to come from inside.In the process he reaches back into history and covers industries ranging from pond ice to memory chips. Combining his explanation with concepts with Geoffrey Moore's "Crossing the Chasm" provides a powerful means of understanding where innovation comes from and what the barriers are to its success. Utterback's book goes beyond that. It also calls into serious question the idea (posited by Moore and others) that today's "high tech" cycle of innovation is fundamentally different from earlier innovative cycles in other industries. All in all, Utterback uses industrial history in a low-key, fact-based book that shines a clear, bright light on what drove yesterday's technology developments -- and today's.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Scholarly analysis in an eminently readable enjoyable bookFeb 15, 2003
James Utterback has achieved the difficult goal of taking careful scholarship, drawing useful conclusions and presenting the whole package in a highly enjoyable book. He makes a major contribution by distinguishing between product innovation and process innovation and shows how and why the former is likely to come from outside the established industry players, while the latter is more likely to come from inside. In the process he reaches back into history and covers industries ranging from pond ice to memory chips. Combining his explanation with concepts with Geoffrey Moore's "Crossing the Chasm" provides a powerful means of understanding where innovation comes from and what the barriers are to its success. Utterback's book goes beyond that. It also calls into serious question the idea (posited by Moore and others) that today's "high tech" cycle of innovation is fundamentally different from earlier innovative cycles in other industries. All in all, Utterback uses industrial history in a low-key, fact-based book that shines a clear, bright light on what drove yesterday's technology developments -- and today's.
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