Creative destruction is a theoretical concept made popular by economist Joseph Schumpeter which states that the fall of traditional establishments has to occur for new innovation, to sustain economic progress.
The term was first coined and popularized at a time when the manufacturing industry was the engine that powered the best economies in the world. Thus, it’s original reference was targeted at manufacturing.
But the idea of creative destruction still holds so true in today’s modern work of technology and digital revolution.
The gist of creative destruction is that long-standing practices has to be dismantled, even if they have been in place for a long time, in order for more efficient innovative practices to thrive.
In essence, new things has to be built from scratch with a focus on it’s goals without limitations set by old protocols and hardware.
In modern times, disruption of industries caused by startups or new technologies can be categorized as creative destruction.
For example, Kodak which was the undisputed leader in the photography film industry for so long became irrelevant overnight with the invention of digital photography.
Digital photographs has so many advantages over film and makes so much sense to consumers.
It must be said that while creative destruction can be viewed favorably by consumers, they often result in employment problems of older generation workers in the industries disrupted.
So one should not look at it from one single perspective.