Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Practice Exam 2026 – The Complete All-in-One Guide to Exam Success!

Disruptive innovation is characterized by its ability to make existing products, processes, or services obsolete by introducing new solutions that create new markets or radically change the dynamics of an existing market. This form of innovation typically starts at the lower end of the market or in a completely new market segment, where it may initially offer lower performance compared to existing products. However, as the disruptive innovations improve, they begin to attract a broader customer base, often leading to significant shifts in market share and ultimately rendering the previous solutions less relevant or obsolete.

In contrast, sustaining innovation focuses on improving existing products and services in ways that enhance performance, commonly appealing to existing customers without displacing them. Incremental innovation involves small, gradual improvements to existing offerings rather than fundamental changes. Radical innovation generally refers to breakthroughs that create entirely new industries or paradigms but do not necessarily make current solutions obsolete in the immediate sense. Therefore, within the context of innovation that directly leads to the obsolescence of existing offerings, disruptive innovation is the defining type.