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resource-allocation-control
The idea that managers perceive themselves as controlling resource distribution, but actual control lies with customers and investors.
1 chapter across 1 book
The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997)Clayton M. Christensen
Chapter 5 summarizes this theory, which states that while managers may think they control the flow of resources in their firms, in the end it is really customers and investors who dictate how money
Chapter 5 explains that although managers believe they control resource allocation within firms, ultimately customers and investors determine how money is spent. Successful companies excel at eliminating ideas that do not meet customer demand, which paradoxically makes it difficult for them to invest in disruptive technologies that initially lack customer interest. By the time customers want these disruptive innovations, it is often too late for the company to capitalize on them.