Management of Technology
1. WHAT ARE THE THINGS CLAY CHRISTENSEN WOULD SAY SMALS MANAGEMENT TEAM DID RIGHT. …AND DID WRONG.
The things that SMaL did right:
Because the shortage of funds, it can only sufficient to allow SMaL to hire about 10 people. And this 10 people is enough to build its first prototype.
In early 2001, SMaL took the prototype to the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and it was a big success.
They decided to ramp up and hired Arienzo to be its CEO who was very experienced in technology-related industries.
The things that SMaL did wrong:
Instead of building entire cameras and becoming a consumer products company or producing just individual components, SMaL decided to produce kits and sold the kits to OEMs. This decision weakens the company’s ability to control the price and deprive the feedback from the end users who decide the market demand.
They keep the company small when it is time to grow.
The company neglected the threat from the competitors. When Casio’s develop a camera with all the features that SMaL’s have, Arienzo still believed SMaL offered something unique.
2. I don’t think SMaL’s technology is a disruptive.
Disruptive technology means it creates a totally new market like MP3 did. It makes the traditional Walkman vanished, changed the substantial technology. But what SMaL did was just made a big progress in the camera industry it only change the size and made some important improvement on the digital camera. So it is not fit for the disruptive technology.
Summary:
In the early 1990s, MIT professor Charles Sodini started toing with the idea of developing new imaging technology using CMOS technology. He thought