Is this the "innovator's dillema" or just technology "evolution"?

I was listening to a conversation two young web developpers were having. They were talking about the 'advantages' of 'branding'. The Internet is creating a new crop of marketers, some are taking a 'page' from the old marketing hymn book - using old techniques in new ways. So these new business managers are going through a phase of branding which is now a hot new topic. But the good news is there is much more marketing, sales and management knowledge out there which can be recycled. In his now classic book "The innovator's dilemma" Christiansen described the phenomenon of great firms who fail because they do not innovate to the next "stage".

---

Christiansen's book made the techies sit-up and take notice...

But there is something more dramatic happening now. Not only single large firms fail, industries actually fail. They fail because of a complete change in the way things are done. So why did I title this post '... or just technology "evolution"'? -- because maybe both cases apply. Lets look back to the current successes in the Internet world. Actually, the businesses that have replaced the 'old school' (I keep on hearing this term in daily use.) Amazon has replaced a great deal of small and medium size stores. The ones hit the hardest are the specialty and technical stores. But, the good news is that some of these stores have been able to 'join' Amazon as an 'affiliate' and sell their books online. The strange phenomena here is the absence of competing small sites. Technical book stores like FatBrain and Computer Literacy were going strong and highly useful, but that was in the 1980's and early 1990's (FatBrain started out as a regular store, I remember it on North 1st in San Jose when working in the area, people use to spend their lunch time browsing and eating). While the sales of computer books is going through the roof, it was not happening in the stores as much. Take a look at the blog entry on Oreillynet.com.

---

So in some respects maybe this is an 'evolution' of bigger proportions. I call it an 'evolution' because the whole 'world' of book selling is changing (in the retail book business, has changed already!). Not just in certain areas, but in all aspects. The retail chains and specialty niches are just one aspect. The buyer behaviour is another. The overall structure of the business (you can't get Don Knuth to come out and speak on Amazon -- or maybe you could?) So what do we do to survive this bigger 'evolution'? Christiansen has followed up the 'problem' book with 'The innovator's solution'. But for some reason that has not been taken notice like the 'dilemma' book. The 'solution' issue is a whole lot more complicated than the 'problem statement' alone. It is also much more interesting. Just like the 'dilemma' book with its two examples (steam shovles and disk drives), there are a few good solution examples. Companies that have moved from one technology generation to the next (actually Barnes & Noble and the buying of FatBrain.com is somewhat of an example). Well, here is a nice little lesson in retailing, or is it in sales strategy? Whatever you call it, the 'new web techies' will surely learn something from it and will eventually go out and build another 'Amazon' ~ or will they take over Barnes & Noble? Let's wait out and see....