Consider if the electric car poses a legitimate disruptive threat to companies making gasoline-powered automobiles. Does it constitute an opportunity for profitable growth? How would you begin to answer these questions?
To measure market needs, would you watch carefully what customers do, not simply listen to what they say? Why or why not?
Are electric cars on a trajectory of improvement that might someday make them competitive in parts of the mainstream market? What is the performance improvement rate of electric cars?
Can electric cars be used in mainstream markets? What does Christensen mean by “they (electric cars) offer a set of attributes that is orthogonal to those that command attention in the gasoline-powered value network?”
Christensen writes, “I would not... follow the lead of other automakers in my search for customers.” Why wouldn’t he? Should we advise to hold “back from the market, waiting for laboratory researchers to develop a breakthrough battery technology?” Why or why not? Why is it that “no one can learn from market research what the early market(s) for electric vehicles will be?” What kind of a plan will his business plan be? What markets does he guess at?
Why do disruptive technologies and new distribution channels frequently go hand-in-hand and what does this mean for electric cars? Should there be a spin-off?