Chapter 3: The Next Big Disruptive Innovation: Can You Imagine a World Without Intel?

From the Book: The Refractive Thinker®: Vol. V: Strategy in Innovation

Summary

Dr. Jordan’s dissertation research in 2010 suggests that the death of the computer chip, and possibly the companies in that industry, is far closer than prior research estimated. Jordan’s Delphi participants predicted what technology will replace the silicon chips of the past, and estimated when that technology will emerge. Jordan’s dissertation was a qualitative descriptive study using a modified Delphi technique to explore how the leaders of the semiconductor industry react to emerging materials with devices smaller than the current theoretical limit of 10 nanometers for materials such as silicon dioxide. The study addressed the time frame for when these new technologies may emerge, the potential impacts that emergence may have on organizational structures and the leadership techniques best adapted to facilitate that emergence. The study respondents forecasted that within 20 to 30 years a new technology would emerge that will replace silicon dioxide, and that replacement technology would likely be protein based. The respondents suggested that an organizational structure of meritocracy and transformational leadership techniques would best facilitate that emergence. When the emergence occurs, it will be interesting to see if it will be disruptive to existing organizational paradigms. It will also be fascinating to see how disruptive these new innovations will be, especially for such companies as Intel.