从突破性创新到颠覆性创新：内涵、特征与演化

许佳琪，汪雪锋，雷鸣，陈虹枢

（北京理工大学管理与经济学院，北京100081）

摘要：概念内涵及其特征是科学研究的重要基础，现有文献对突破性创新和颠覆性创新的研究存在概念内涵交叉重叠的现象，对各自特征的分析和演化过程研究也尚未达成共识。本文采用系统性综述的方法，通过对国内外主要文献的梳理和分析，明确了突破性创新和颠覆性创新的概念内涵，探讨了突破性创新和颠覆性创新演化的底层逻辑，厘清了颠覆性创新的源起、发展及其与突破性创新之间的复杂关系，为颠覆性创新的系统化研究提供了基础。本文认为，突破性创新与颠覆性创新具有显著差异，从突破性创新到颠覆性创新是一个梯度演化的过程。突破性创新属于技术创新层面的概念，是基于组织战术层面的创新活动，而颠覆性创新是基于组织战略层面的创新活动，是以“颠覆性打破”为导向的复杂创新，注重技术和组织资源的深度融合，涵盖了创新的所有范畴。本文提出，在数字经济时代，进一步探讨突破性创新和颠覆性创新的内在演化逻辑、构建颠覆性创新理论分析框架、寻求颠覆性创新开放与控制的战略平衡治理方式、发现颠覆性技术的早期识别方法以及剖析中国情境下颠覆性创新的演化机制与实现路径等都是未来研究的重要内容。

关键词：突破性创新；颠覆性创新；内涵；特征；演化

主要研究结论：（1）突破性创新与颠覆性创新的再审视

本文认为突破性创新与颠覆性创新有显著差异，突破性创新是带来全新科学知识和技术突破的革命性创新，颠覆性创新是基于技术快速迭代带来的产业颠覆的背景下提出的，二者共同具有不连续性和突变性特征。狭义上，颠覆性创新是基于技术视角的颠覆性技术创新，包括低端技术或现有技术的跨界融合应用与前沿技术的重大突破，具有重要的国家战略意义。广义上，颠覆性创新不仅仅包括技术创新活动的范畴，更涵盖了熊彼特提出的所有创新活动的范畴，是一种以“颠覆性打破”为导向的复杂创新。

从技术属性看，突破性创新强调技术的重大突破，属于正向非连续性技术曲线。颠覆性创新，一方面来源于低端技术开发，具有负向非连续的技术曲线；另一方面来源于原始创新技术的研发，是科学原理和技术知识上的重大突破，属于正向非连续性技术曲线，但具有更高量级的技术轨道跃迁。本文认为突破性技术可以看作是广义颠覆性技术的一种形式。从市场占领方式看，二者均起到重塑市场格局、变革现有市场规则的效果，但突破性创新一般由在位企业推动和开展，以自上而下的方式侵入市场。相反，颠覆性创新往往由新进入者领导，通过侵入低端市场或者建立新兴市场，起到自下而上的颠覆效果。从竞争优势的获取渠道看，突破性创新是组织凭借前沿技术在现有价值网络中获取新的竞争优势，颠覆性创新则是从根本上打破现有价值网络，通过新技术与商业模式的适度结合来获取竞争优势。因此，突破性创新是基于战术层面的创新活动，本质属于同质化竞争，颠覆性创新是基于战略层面的创新活动，借助产品的差异化优势为用户创造新价值，本质属于差异化竞争。

（2）从突破性创新到颠覆性创新存在梯度演化关系

本文在对文献进行系统梳理的基础上，阐释了从突破性创新到颠覆性创新演化的底层逻辑，发现从突破性创新到颠覆性创新是一个梯度演化的复杂过程。突破性创新带来的市场价值是在组织原有价值网络中形成的，而颠覆性创新不仅包含技术的“附加效应”，更强调以更快、更盈利的方式交付产品和服务，对顾客需求更敏感，通过构建新的价值网络实现组织运营的优化，增强了组织的弹性。同时，突破性创新的打破性效应并不会导致行业陷入困境，而颠覆性创新往往会导致整个行业的颠覆。通过建立以自身为中心的新价值网络，打破资源壁垒，获取创新资源，不断拓展组织边界取代已有的在位企业，进而产生颠覆性打破效应，实现由增量式改变向质变式颠覆的演变。

From breakthrough innovation to disruptive innovation: Their connotations, characteristics and evolution

Xu Jiaqi, Wang Xuefeng, Lei Ming, Chen Hongshu

(School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China)

Abstract:Although a large amount of previous research has theorized about the character of breakthrough innovation and disruptive innovation, there has been limited evolutionary relationship theoretical investigation of this matter. By adopting the systematic review method, the study reiterates the concept connotation of breakthrough innovation and disruptive innovation, explores the historical process of disruptive innovation, and then clarifies their underlying logic of evolution. 

The study discovers that: (1) Breakthrough innovation belongs to the concept of technological innovation, which is an innovation activity based on the organizational and tactical levels. In terms of technical attributes, breakthrough innovation emphasizes major technological breakthroughs and belongs to the positive discontinuous technical curve. The primary traits of breakthrough innovation are discontinuity, novelty, mutation, and interdisciplinarity. (2) Disruptive innovation is a complex innovation oriented by "subversive breaking" that is based on organizational strategy. In a narrow sense, disruptive innovation is based on the perspective of technology. It includes cross-border integration of low-end or existing technologies as well as major breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies with significant national strategic implications. Generally, disruptive innovation not only includes the scope of technological innovation activities, but also covers all innovation activities proposed by Schumpeter. It is distinguished by more discontinuity and mutation, as well as non-competitiveness, relativity, fusion, and timeliness. (3) There are significant disparities between disruptive and breakthrough innovation. The information and communication technology era serve as the background for breakthrough innovation, which emphasizes the change in product performance brought on by technological advancements. Disruptive innovation is founded on the backdrop of rapid technological advancement at the end of the twentieth century and the ongoing compression of the social demand change cycle. It pays more attention to the deep integration of technology and organizational resources, covering all innovation activities. In short, breakthrough innovation is related to organizational tactic innovation. Disruptive innovation is a type of organizational strategic innovation. From the perspective of market occupation, breakthrough innovation is generally driven by incumbent enterprises and invades the market from top to bottom. Contrarily, disruptive innovation is led by new entrants and plays a subversive role from bottom to top by invading low-end markets or establishing emerging markets. (4) Disruptive and breakthrough innovation are linked by a gradient evolution. The market value brought by breakthrough innovation is formed in the original value network of the organization. Although breakthrough innovations have disruptive effects, they do not cause the entire industry to fall into trouble. Disruptive innovation not only includes the "additional effect" of technology, but also emphasizes the faster and more profitable delivery of products and services. New entrants break through resource barriers to obtain innovative resources. They can overthrow the entire sector and eventually complete the transition from incremental advancement to qualitative change by creating a new self-centered value network.

Based on the key findings, the disruptive innovation is the core of the digital economy era. The study thinks that the following issues should be prioritized in the future. (1) Talk about the evolutionarily based logic of disruptive and breakthrough innovation. The internal connection and correlation between them will involve deeper theoretical research. (2) Develop a theoretical framework for the digital economic era. Disruptive innovation is committed to seeking development opportunities in the organization′s external environment, which has the characteristics of high organizational openness and dynamic correlation. This theoretical analysis framework will provide an analytical tool for dealing with the uncertainty of disruptive innovation. (3) Pay close attention to the strategic balance and governance of disruptive innovation opening and control, which can help latecomers grasp the scale of openness and control. (4) Focus on identifying and mining the unmet needs of users. This is an important prerequisite for organizations to implement disruptive innovations. (5) Explore early identification methods for disruptive technologies, which requires the clarification and precise quantification of the advent of disruptive technologies. It will have strategic importance in determining the course of disruptive technologies and putting them into practice. (6) Analyze the evolutionary mechanism and realization path of disruptive innovation in the context of China, which can open the "black box" of the evolutionary process of disruptive innovation. Through the systematic research, a deep understanding of the concepts of breakthrough innovation and disruptive innovation has been developed. More importantly, it serves as a source of inspiration for both longitudinal theory-deepening research and situational research on innovation practice.

Key words:breakthrough innovation; disruptive innovation; connotation; characteristics; evolution