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Disruptive Strategy

Disruptive Strategy
Clayton Christensen sitting at his desk
Disruptive Strategy
Harness the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Craft Winning Strategies

Disruptive Strategy enables you to make innovation a reality. Created by Clayton Christensen, who coined the theory of disruptive innovation, this online course will equip you with the skills and techniques to develop executive-level strategy, organize for innovation, and discover customer jobs to be done.

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What You'll Learn

Play an Introduction to Disruptive Strategy video
Play an Introduction to Disruptive Strategy video
Go to Course Syllabus
  • Become fluent in disruptive innovation theory
  • Assess new opportunities and potential threats
  • Discover jobs to be done and develop frameworks to better understand customer needs
  • Acquire techniques for executive-level strategy development
  • Organize for innovation and maintain a disruptive scope
  • Gain confidence articulating complex viewpoints

Harvard Business School Online is saddened by the loss of acclaimed teacher, scholar, and innovator Clayton Christensen. Professor Christensen’s online Disruptive Strategy course has engaged thousands of learners and will continue to reach individuals and organizations worldwide. HBS Online worked closely with Professor Christensen on the development of the course and is honored to deliver Disruptive Strategy as part of his legacy.

About the Professors

Professor Rory McDonald - Disruptive Strategy

Rory McDonald is the Thai-Hi T. Lee (MBA 1985) Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches the MBA course Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise and, in 2016, was named one of the world’s top 40 business school professors under 40 by Poets & Quants. His research focuses on how firms compete and innovate effectively in new technology-enabled markets.


Professor Clayton Christensen - Disruptive Strategy

Clayton Christensen was the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and is regarded as one of the world’s top experts on disruption, innovation, and growth strategy. He was twice named the world’s most influential business thinker and authored several books, including The Innovator’s Dilemma, which lays out his theory of disruption, New York Times best-selling How Will You Measure Your Life?, focused on achieving happiness in your personal life, and The Prosperity Paradox, which explores how innovation can help lift nations out of poverty.

Who Will Benefit

compass

Innovative Leaders

Align your resources, processes, and financial strategy to position your business for growth.

4 arrows starting point

Forward-Thinking Strategists

Assess opportunities and learn how to better determine what profitability looks like as your industry evolves.

Idea

Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Discover what causes customers to buy your products and why, and predict when disruption will happen.

Program Structure

Disruptive Strategy consists of 30 to 35 hours of material delivered over a six-week period. You can complete the coursework on your own time while meeting regular deadlines. In addition, two group exercises and an individual final paper are required for course completion. This course is delivered fully online, with no live faculty interaction.

November 2020
  • Length: 6 Weeks
  • Program Dates: 11/4/20 – 12/16/20
  • Cost: $1,600
  • Applications Closed
  • Detailed Calendar
  • Course Platform
  • Certificate Program
January 2021
  • Length: 6 Weeks
  • Program Dates: 1/27/21 – 3/10/21
  • Cost: $1,600
  • Application Deadline: January 18
  • Detailed Calendar
  • Course Platform
  • Certificate Program
Apply Now
April 2021
  • Length: 6 Weeks
  • Program Dates: 4/7/21 – 5/19/21
  • Cost: $1,600
  • Application Deadline: March 29
  • Course Platform
  • Certificate Program
Apply Now

Syllabus

Disruptive Strategy is an online program providing world-renowned tools and frameworks for growth, strategy, and innovation. 

Learning requirements: In order to earn a Certificate of Completion, participants must thoughtfully complete all modules (Introduction, Modules 1-4, and Conclusion) and exercises therein (including a Team Project, Jobs to be Done Interview, and Final Paper, among others), by stated deadlines.

Download Disruptive Strategy Syllabus

Modules Case Studies Takeaways Key Exercises
Introduction: Lenses on the World
  • Intel: Learn how Professor Christensen helped Intel Chairman Andy Grove confront a disruptive threat by showing him how to think, not what to think.
  • Adopt a strategic mindset
  • Articulate your strategic questions
  • Generating Your Strategic Question
Module 1: Aligning with Innovation and Disruption
  • WR Hambrecht and the Google IPO: A New Approach to Investment Banking
  • Honda Motor Company: Entering a New Market
  • CircleUp: Re-imagining Private Equity
  • Identify the three types of innovation and predict when they will happen
  • Harness disruption and position your business for new growth
  • Team Discussion: Blockbuster's Demise
  • Team Project: The New Age of Financial Advice
Module 2: Discovering Customer Jobs to be Done
  • The Walt Disney Company: Expanding the Theme Park Business
  • The Godrej Group: Understanding Refrigeration Needs in India
  • Minute Clinic: A New Approach to Healthcare Delivery
  • Focus on what causes your customers to buy your products and why
  • Achieve differentiation, better margins, and avoid disruption
  • One-on-One Discussion & Interview Assignment: Discovering Customer Jobs to be Done
  • Team Discussion: Innovation in Yogurt
Module 3: Organizing for Innovation
  • Nypro, Inc.: Seeking Growth Through a New Product Line
  • Charles Schwab: Trading in the New World of Internet
  • EMC: Merging Competing Products Through an Acquisition
  • Identify what your organization can do and cannot do
  • Align your resources, processes, and profit formula to develop an innovative culture and position your business for growth
  • Brainstorming for Final Paper: Examine Your Organization’s Resources, Processes, and Profit Formula to Foster Growth and Success in the Future
Module 4: Maintaining a Disruptive Scope
  • Music Industry: Producing and Performing in a New Age
  • MediaTek: Expanding Accessibility to New Technologies in Asia
  • Build a strong intuition to “skate” to where profit will be as your industry evolves
  • Determine which operations are critical to be done in-house and which operations can be outsourced
  • Reflection: Determining Ways in Which Your Organization Could Use a More Integrated or Specialized Strategy
  • Reflection: Discovering the Scope for Your Organization
Module 5: Managing the Strategy Development Process
  • OnStar: General Motor’s New Innovation
  • Netflix: The Evolution of Home Entertainment
  • Sears, IBM, and AOL: Understanding Internet Consumption During the Boom of the Digital Age
  • Effectively balance the deliberate and emergent strategy processes to unlock innovation within your organization
  • Determine which “type” of money will empower new business ideas to flourish
  • Reflection: Examining How to Align Your Organization’s Profit Formula and Stated Strategy
  • Team Discussion: Identifying "Hardened" Companies
Conclusion: Reflecting on Disruptive Strategy
  • Not Applicable
  • Explore how to apply what you learned in Disruptive Strategy tomorrow, next week, or over the next year
  • Individual Assignment: Final Paper

The HBS Online Advantage

Play an Introduction to the HBS Online Platform video
Play an Introduction to the HBS Online Platform video
  • World-class faculty
  • Edge-of-your-seat online learning
  • Global peer collaboration and networking
  • Real-world, case-based learning

Harvard Business School Online offers a unique and highly engaging way to learn vital business concepts. Immerse yourself in real challenges faced by seasoned leaders across a variety of industries, including Bill Hambrecht, founder of WR Hambrecht & Co.; Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google; Joe Tucci, chairman and CEO of EMC; and Ryan Caldbeck, founder of equity crowdfunding platform CircleUp. Wrestle with the same issues they faced, while problem-solving and engaging with learners from around the world.

Play Participant shares thoughts on Disruptive Strategy video
Play Participant shares thoughts on Disruptive Strategy video

Stories from Our Learners

  • The framework of Disruptive Strategy helps you to make strategic thinking something that you do every day, as opposed to an exercise to get a strategic plan put together.
    Rajneesh Gupta,
    Vice President of Strategy, M&A, and Analytics of the ProTax Group
  • The Disruptive Strategy class was so very engaging, you really feel like you know Clay Christensen by the end of the class. And more than that, you really feel like you know your peers.
    Jessica Shaffer,
    AVP


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Frequently Asked Questions

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Enrollment Eligibility

Our easy online application is free, and no special documentation is required. All applicants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the course. We confirm enrollment eligibility within one week of your application.

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Disruptive Strategy Certificate of Completion from HBS Online
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Enroll today in Harvard Business School Online's Disruptive Strategy course.

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Sign up for News & Announcements

News

  • How to Prepare Financially for an Economic Recession
  • Mini-courses pave the way to a full MBA
  • New Dean of Harvard Business School Online Aims for Modular Courses, More Diversity
  • HBS Online Will Keep Changing The Game. Here’s How.

Courses

  • CORe
  • Alternative Investments
  • Business Analytics
  • Data Science Ready
  • Disruptive Strategy
  • Economics for Managers
  • Entrepreneurship Essentials
  • Financial Accounting
  • Global Business
  • Leadership Principles
  • Leading with Finance
  • Management Essentials
  • Negotiation Mastery
  • Sustainable Business Strategy

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  • Contact Us
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