The_Innovators_Dilemma__Clayton

Source: Data are from the Historical Construction Equipment Association and from The Thomas
Register, various years.
Excavation contractors themselves actually pioneered a number of other important sustaining
innovations, first modifying their own equipment in the field to make it perform better and then
manufacturing excavators incorporating those features to sell to the broader market. 4
THE IMPACT OF DISRUPTIVE HYDRAULICS TECHNOLOGY
The next major technological change precipitated widespread failure in the industry. Beginning shortly
after World War II and continuing through the late 1960s, while the dominant source of power
remained the diesel engine, a new mechanism emerged for extending and lifting the bucket:
hydraulically actuated systems replaced the cable-actuated systems. Only four of the thirty or so
established manufacturers of cable-actuated equipment in business in the 1950s (Insley, Koehring,
Little Giant, and Link Belt) had successfully transformed themselves into sustainable hydraulic
excavator manufacturers by the 1970s. A few others survived by withdrawing into making such
equipment as huge, cable-actuated draglines for strip mining and dredging. 5 Most of the others failed.
The firms that overran the excavation equipment industry at this point were all entrants into the
hydraulics generation: J. I. Case, John Deere, Drott, Ford, J. C. Bamford, Poclain, International
Harvester, Caterpillar, O & K, Demag, Leibherr, Komatsu, and Hitachi. 6 Why did this happen?
Performance Demanded in the Mechanical Excavator Market
Excavators are one of many types of earthmoving equipment. Some equipment, such as bulldozers,
loaders, graders, and scrapers, essentially push, smooth, and lift earth. Excavators 7 have been used to
dig holes and trenches, primarily in three markets: first and largest, the general excavation market,
composed of contractors who dig holes for basements or civil engineering projects such as canal
construction; second, sewer and piping contractors, who generally dig long trenches; and third, open pit
or strip mining. In each of these markets, contractors have tended to measure the functionality of
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