TITLE:
Disruptive Technologies and the Incumbent’s Dilemma in Navigating the Digital and AI Era
AUTHORS:
Vincent English
KEYWORDS:
Disruptive Innovation, Platform Economics, Artificial Intelligence, Dynamic Capabilities, Strategic Management, Incumbent Failure, Network Effects, Generative AI
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.13 No.6,
June
8,
2026
ABSTRACT: The phenomenon of disruptive innovation, first articulated by Bower and Christensen, remains one of the most consistent patterns in business: the failure of leading companies to stay at the top of their industries when technologies or markets change. This paper revisits the foundational concepts of disruptive technology, updating the theoretical framework to account for the modern digital economy, platform ecosystems, and the advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Through a comparative case analysis of Uber, Airbnb, Netflix, NVIDIA and OpenAI, the paper illustrates how the innovator’s dilemma has evolved and intensified in the 21st century. The argument distinguishes Christensen-style disruptive innovation from adjacent mechanisms such as platform disruption, architectural innovation and regulatory disruption. It shows that while the core mechanisms of disruption remain intact, modern disruption often unfolds faster and through ecosystem-level mechanisms, data advantages, network effects and regulatory arbitrage. The paper therefore contributes a strategic synthesis linking disruption theory with dynamic capabilities and organisational ambidexterity.Subject AreasBusiness Analysis, Business Management