Why Being Disruptive In Business Is So Powerful

Take Microsoft word. By the time it came out, it cost money to buy and offered customer care which costs Microsoft money. To compete with Microsoft with a product that has the same features starting from 0 would be very difficult
as Microsoft has the customer base, the knowledge of what all those customers want, and the money to develop it further.

So how would you compete? Take the brilliant approach of google docs. They made a similar program but free. So a lot of the people who don’t rely on customer support would within word sooner or later switch simply because they don’t have to pay for it. Providing the program is easy to use. And the money for the development was generated by advertisements within the program. So why can’t Microsoft now steal google the show?
Microsoft can’t make its product free since they rely on the income from the licenses. They also cannot switch to advertising as it would alienate their customers. Last it would take some time to start working creating a completely new layout.
So the genius goes to google for thinking about how their competitor Microsoft cannot come after them once they have their own product. Because what they did right is realizing that the real problem is not creating a product it is Microsoft as the main competitor that creates the big trouble. This a fine example of strategic thinking.

Source: Harvard-I-lab