Changing the world with
hyperconnectivity & outsourcing
In his book, “The World is Flat”, Thomas Friedman describes a
convergence of factors in the 2000s, including our new global
hyperconnectivity, that changed core economic concepts.
People and their devices are now digitally linked in a way that
allows communication anytime and anywhere. Economic
experts estimate that in just five years, there will be 50 billion
networked devices.
This new connectedness, in conjunction with declining costs for
basic technologies and global sourcing, has helped to break
down geographic business barriers and turbocharge industries.
Since emerging products can be more efficiently and affordably
produced, they can be made more appealing and available to
greater numbers of consumers. As a result, ideas seem to be
emerging at an unprecedented pace.
Every now and then, a new idea effects a profound, no-goingback kind of change – like assembly line production of the Model
T Ford, the personal computer, or digital photography – and
radically alters the business landscape. In many cases, the innovation involves a new application of existing technology. These
change-causing ideas are known as disruptive innovations.
In the mid-1990s, Harvard Business professor Clayton
Christensen began using the term “disruptive innovation” to
In this age of global sourcing and hyperconnectivity, the old geographic
barriers to business are being eradicated.
combined 3D imaging with computerized treatment planning
and robotic manufacture of custom archwires.
describe changes that improve a product or service in ways
that the existing market does not expect. First, the disruptive
innovation (DI) will design for a new set of consumers in the
new market. Then it will lower the prices in the existing market. Initially marginalized, the DI will eventually penetrate
the market because the innovation is simpler, smaller, easier
to use or better performing. Unexpectedly, the innovation
will displace existing products. Professional service businesses (like dentistry) need to be on the lookout for these
disruptive innovations so as not to be marginalized or left
behind in the fast-changing business world in which we all
function.
– Excerpt from ORTHOSOURCE newsletter
A disruptive innovation in orthodontics
The den [[