High and Low Disruption

Forbes.com: Disruption High and Low
"They [tthe CEOs] are charged with an awesome task. They must grow their companies with little pricing power and against tough and seemingly endless global competition. Want that job?

I may be missing something, but I can see only two general ways out of this dilemma. Call them Low Disruption and High Disruption. I don't see much of a middle way of any kind. And I see only declining success prospects for those companies unwilling to engage in the risky work of disruption.

Low Disruption means leveraging the Cheap Revolution for all it's worth to introduce products and services that are stunningly cheap yet make money because their cost basis is so low. Think Google. It's ranked third in the world in Web pages served daily. The search engine's IT infrastructure is built entirely from Linux software and computers that are so cheap they're junked instead of fixed. Ravi Aron, a Wharton professor, thinks Google's cost per Web page served is ten times below the industry average."

"High Disruption is the act of directing a premium product or service at today's affluent customers. Good news: Around the world, these customers are growing in number. Bad News: Such customers are more discerning and fickle than ever before. They have no interest in buying their fathers' Oldsmobiles, and they will not tolerate any premium brand that breaks its promise."