Call for Papers

Below is the call for papers for the upcoming Cutter IT Journal issue Creative Destruction: How to Keep From Being Technologically Disrupted, guest edited by Dennis Adams.

Creative Destruction: How to Keep From Being Technologically Disrupted

In 1934, the economist Joseph Schumpeter helped popularize the phrase "creative destruction" by describing how new, entrepreneurial companies, by harnessing new technological innovations could unseat incumbent companies. He believed that this was an endless cycle that would continue to play out as innovation continued. Extensions to the theory predicted that companies may be able to avoid being unseated by newcomers by focusing on economies of scale and scope or by accumulating networks of complementary assets that make it difficult for new entrants to win in the marketplace. We see these changes happening today as the newspaper and music industries are being transformed by new entrants with new technologies. What Schumpeter could not anticipate was the speed that new innovations would arrive on, and depart, the scene in the Internet age.

CIOs are increasingly asked to not only provide a stable and cost-effective IT infrastructure, but also to provide insight as to how rapidly evolving information technologies might positively or negatively impact the organization's strategy, product lines or customer relationships. Most IT managers are in the reactive role when it comes to disruption. Social networking, IT consumerization and cloud computing are among the more disruptive influences businesses face today.

The October 2011 issue of Cutter IT Journal will examine the issues associated with spotting potential disruptive innovations and how to anticipate the impact of these new technologies. In this Call for Papers, we therefore seek article submissions offering insightful analysis and new research related to the following questions:

  1. Why existing companies and new entrants make investments in certain new technologies and not others?

    • Are some new technologies more disruptive than others?

    • Can customer relationships and product lines become vulnerable to new technologies in a short amount of time?

    • Can a new technology be deemed too risky to pursue to some organizations and not to others?

    • Can an organization's structure encourage or inhibit the pursuit of innovation?

    • Can a disruption in one of your trading partners disrupt you?

  2. Why do entrants and incumbents differ in the way they perform while using new technologies?

    • Can new technologies disrupt existing processes as well as existing products?

    • Can new business models based on new technologies potentially cannibalize existing businesses?

    • Can teaching "old dogs new tricks" limit how effective the deployment of a new technology can be?

    • What technological innovations entice existing companies which are incumbents in their own markets, to become new entrants in other markets?

  3. Why do incumbents and entrants benefit (or not) from new technologies?

    • Is it true when products deliver more performance than consumers demand, eventually the price for those products will fall as lower products with less functionality emerge?

    • Can switching costs slow down, or infinitely delay, consumer choices?

    • Is it true that while some organizations are too heavily invested in their complementary assets to be able to quickly move to new ways of doing business, new entrants, on the other hand, may have too few of these assets to entice new customers?

    • Does product innovation limit the scope of innovation unless process innovation is considered?

In short, CIOs should not focus exclusively on the "what" of innovation, but also must consider the "why" of technological innovation.

TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE IDEA

Please respond to the Guest Editor, Dennis Adams at adams[at]uh[dot]edu with a copy to itjournal[at]cutter[dot]com by 22 July 2011. Please include an extended abstract and short outline showing the major discussion points.

ARTICLE DEADLINE

Accepted articles are due by 2 September 2011.

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

Most Cutter IT Journal articles are approximately 2,500-3,500 words long, plus whatever graphics are appropriate. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact CITJ's Group Publisher, Christine Generali at cgenerali[at]cutter[dot]com or the Guest Editor, Dennis Adams at adams[at]uh[dot]edu. Editorial guidelines are available online.

*** Important Note: When you submit an article to Cutter Consortium, you warrant that you (or your employer) are the sole owner of the article and that you have full power and authority to copyright it and publish it. Also, the article you submit to Cutter must be an original; not previously published elsewhere.

AUDIENCE

Typical readers of Cutter IT Journal range from CIOs and vice presidents of software organizations to IT managers, directors, project leaders, and very senior technical staff. Most work in fairly large organizations: Fortune 500 IT shops, large computer vendors (IBM, HP, etc.), and government agencies. 48% of our readership is outside of the US (15% from Canada, 14% Europe, 5% Australia/NZ, 14% elsewhere). Please avoid introductory-level, tutorial coverage of a topic. Assume you're writing for someone who has been in the industry for 10 to 20 years, is very busy, and very impatient. Assume he or she will be asking, "What's the point? What do I do with this information?" Apply the "So what?" test to everything you write.

PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

We are pleased to offer Journal authors a year's complimentary subscription and five copies of the issue in which they are published. In addition, we occasionally pull excerpts, along with the author's bio, to include in our weekly Cutter Edge e-mail bulletin, which reaches another 8,000 readers. We'd also be pleased to quote you, or passages from your article, in Cutter press releases. If you plan to be speaking at industry conferences, we can arrange to make copies of your article or the entire issue available for attendees of those speaking engagements -- furthering your own promotional efforts.

ABOUT CUTTER IT JOURNAL

No other journal brings together so many cutting-edge thinkers, and lets them speak so bluntly and frankly. We strive to maintain the Journal's reputation as the "Harvard Business Review of IT." Our goal is to present well-grounded opinion (based on real, accountable experiences), research, and animated debate about each topic the Journal explores.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS CALL FOR PAPERS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT HAVE AN APPROPRIATE SUBMISSION.

Call for Papers: Creative Destruction: How to Keep From Being Technologically Disrupted