What best defines disruptive innovation?

Disruptive innovation is best defined as new technologies or business models that create or significantly disrupt existing markets. This concept, introduced by Clayton Christensen, describes how smaller companies with fewer resources can successfully challenge established businesses. Disruptive innovations often start by targeting overlooked segments of the market, but over time, they improve in quality and capabilities, eventually appealing to larger market segments and displacing established competitors.

This definition captures the essence of how disruptive innovations can reshape industries, create new markets, and change consumer behaviors, thus contributing to substantial shifts in the business landscape. By contrasting this with the other options, it becomes clear that incremental improvements (A) do not encapsulate the revolutionary nature of disruptive innovation, nor do technologies that simply maintain the status quo (B). Similarly, traditional products adapted for modern use (D) lack the radical impact associated with true disruptive innovations, as they do not inherently create or disrupt markets.