In 1993, four years prior to the publication of Clayton Christensen's highly influential book, The Innovator's Dilemma, the Business History Review published an article by Christensen titled “The Rigid Disk Drive Industry: A History of Commercial and Technological Turbulence.” The article relates the theory of disruptive innovation to Alfred D. Chandler's work on large vertically integrated enterprises. It was published during a pivotal era of scholarship on innovation, management practice, and industry evolution, much of which used the history of firms, industries, and technologies to build theory. I survey the impact and critiques of Christensen's research agenda, highlighting how it illustrates where the boundaries associated with the “lessons of history” should be drawn.

1993年，即克莱顿·克里斯滕森（Clayton Christensen）极具影响力的著作《创新者的困境》出版的前四年，《商业历史评论》发表了克里斯滕森的一篇文章，标题为“刚性磁盘驱动器行业：商业和技术动荡的历史”。本文将颠覆性创新理论与阿尔弗雷德·钱德勒（Alfred D. Chandler）在大型垂直整合企业上的工作联系起来。它是在有关创新，管理实践和行业发展的学术研究的关键时期出版的，其中大部分都是利用公司，行业和技术的历史来构建理论的。我调查了克里斯滕森研究议程的影响和批评，强调了它如何说明应在何处划定与“历史教训”有关的界限。