Clayton M. Christensen thinks big. In an era when academics often focus relentlessly on a narrow area of specialty, Christensen, the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, seeks out new arenas in which to apply his thinking. He is the author or coauthor of a number of influential books on innovation, including The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution, and is best known for his theory of disruptive innovation, which describes the way new technologies (and the companies that pioneer them) can displace old ones.

But Christensen has also applied his ideas about disruptive innovation to public education—and now health care. With two physicians—Jason Hwang and the late Jerome H. Grossman—Christensen recently coauthored a book on health care, The Innovator’s Prescription (McGraw-Hill, 2009).

Christensen spoke with MIT Sloan Management Review senior editor Martha E. Mangelsdorf in fall 2008—on topics ranging from the role of innovation in financial markets to the challenges facing the U.S. health care system. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Professor Christensen, tell us a little bit about what you think the effects... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.