Disruptive Innovation: Airbnb, Software and Video Streaming (Essay Sample)

Disruptive Innovation
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Disruptive Innovation
Today's world is full of endless choices and opportunities for products and services to thrive and perform at an increasing pace. Moreover, in these innovative times, new solutions are always taken as substitutes to the existing technologies, which are often perceived as cheaper and faster than ever before. In other words, innovations are continually occurring in every sector and every industry in the economy. Still, honestly, disruptive innovation must be the one that has helped transform products, services, and solutions entirely. Also, disruptive innovations are considered more simple, low-grade solutions that tend to shape the entire market and provide high-market solutions. In most cases, people underrate their existence; however, their presence in the market often appeals to consumers, making companies that use them or innovate them have a higher competitive advantage. With regards to this, one can conclude that disruptive innovation refers to the concept, product, or service that either disrupt an existing market or creates an entirely new market segment. For instance, Netflix, online encyclopedias, and Software are some of the disruptors, among many others. Therefore, this essay will shed light on primary products and service innovations that have taken over the industries due to disruptive innovation and vividly explain why they are considered disruptive.
First, online encyclopedia and referencing have been characterized as a hallmark of classic disruptive innovation in the publishing industry. Online encyclopedias and reference materials have brought forth competitive use of traditional encyclopedia methods, for instance, Encyclopedia Britannica. Due to this, many publication companies have resorted to providing and coming up with books and journals in softcopy to be much easier to access. As much as it took the industry decades to embrace such innovation, it is clear that online encyclopedias and referencing have helped a lot. At first to most, the idea of the internet
referencing was untrustworthy and unreliable; however, people have taken a shift in perception as the innovation has since then improved (Christensen, McDonald, Altman & Palmer, 2018). They have featured several updates with regards to relevant information that has enabled readers and writers to acquire and purchase issues of such encyclopedias, books, and reference materials at a lower price and in a convenient manner (King & Baatartogtokh, 2015). In my opinion, online encyclopedias and referencing as a disruptive innovation have helped people save time spent moving from one book shop to the other searching for books. Moreover, it has also facilitated for people to choose amongst various publications, authors, and topics according to the preferences of the readers or writers.
Similar to Online encyclopedia and referencing, Software as a service has also taken over the market ever since it was launched. As a disruptive innovation, many businesses have adopted this innovation to reduce the cost of the purchase to the alternative option of subscription instead. Businesses operate with profitability, scalability, and growth; in this case, many start-ups tend to go for the option of subscribing to the software services other than purchasing them. For instance, Software services for storage like Google Cloud are often commonly subscribed and used by most start-ups; this is because they may not have the financial capabilities to purchase high-end software data storage systems like Google and Apple. Moreover, such a service is also considered to be more convenient and more comfortable to use than the traditional way, which included files and flash drives that may get stolen or destroyed as a result of a fire. Today, Software as a service has helped the market incorporate flexibility and ease of maintenance without having to perform the task themselves (Christensen et al., 2018). In my opinion, Software as a service is a highly beneficial disruptive innovation, since unlike other software services, this innovation can accommodate and meet the
the demand of all customers, all that matters is the financial capability of the customer. Today, basically all modern start-ups and growing businesses use this model, mostly in Google cloud computing. This has helped safeguard vital business documents and ease the process of retrieval in case it gets lost.
Another major disruptive innovation is the development and introduction of Airbed and Breakfast, popularly known as Airbnb, in the hospitality industry. This concept brings together the model of innovation with technology; one may even argue out that this disruptor is the one that is responsible for the online booking services incorporated in most hospitality institutions (King & Baatartogtokh, 2015). The idea was brought up by two individuals in San Francisco, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, who allowed people who missed rooms during a conference in their town. Ideally, they did this to raise funds to clear their rental debt but ended up becoming a business idea. Airbnb provides travelers with the freedom and opportunity to live with locals, acting as a transaction facilitator between the visitor and the host. Today, the platform has over 50 million users with an average booking of two million visitors across 100,000 cities worldwide. At the beginning stages, the innovation targeted travelers looking for cheaper accommodations than the hotels. Moreover, after gaining traffic and getting a positive network both through the visitors and the guests, it has provided a new and better alternative to those who are more relaxed and enjoy a comfortable home experience other than a hotel. Compared to the traditional accommodation offered in the hotel industry, Airbnb has a competitive edge since individuals are given the option of choosing from a variety of pocket-friendly options (Gobble, 2016). Furthermore, the listings are also unique and adventurous; they include boats, tents, treehouses, villas, and mansions, whereas hotels that offer similar service
are expensive. Similarly, the platform also creates a balance concerning demand and supply. It connects guest and host; in this case, homeowners can get something small, and the guests get pocket-friendly accommodation and service (Christensen et al., 2018). From my perspective, I believe Airbnb as a disruptive innovation performs well due to the pricing factor; for instance, for an individual who travels a lot, Airbnb allows him to save money. For instance, in the home, one can do his or her laundry for free, cook for free, and travel as a group; there is the splitting of cost other than the multiple booking of rooms that may be expensive.
Besides, Electric vehicles have also taken much attention in the motor dealership industry. Therefore it is considered as one of the significant disruptors. However, most automotive industries and governments have addressed concerns that have hindered the switch or the adoption of these vehicles in the market. For instance, Qatar's government has criticized this due to the apparent reason that this would affect their oil market (Christensen et al., 2018). Moreover, the limited range, high investment required, and changing infrastructure are also reasons for its slow growth (Si & Chen, 2020). Moreover, the manufacturers are also under pressure to develop smaller and more effective power density motors to replace the internal combustion engines, which should also be done at a cost-effective scale. Other than that, I believe the possibility of a high price tag is also one of the factors hindering the growth of these disruptors. For instance, the cheapest Tesla Electric vehicle, Model 3, stands at forty thousand dollars, which is quite pricy.
Video streaming is also a considerable improvement in the entertainment industry; as a replacement and improvement of cable and bloc