FND 2610: Foundations of Business and Entrepreneurship Technological Entrepreneurship Week March

Session Outline Why is Technological Entrepreneurship Special? E-Ink?

More “Ecosystem” Complexity Products require integration of many technology streams (e.g., microprocessors) Individual products are used in larger overall systems (e.g., photo equipment) * Products serve B2B and/or B2C customers (i.e., components and end products) Many enterprises work cooperatively and competitively around a new innovation *  –Complex “enterprise ecosystems” –“Value networks” –“Coopetition” * Drawn from Dhebar, A., When It Comes to Marketing, Why Are High-Tech Products Special? (unpublished working paper, 2003)

More Dynamic Markets Technology streams exhibit “discontinuities” (e.g., substitution for mechanical watches) “Discontinuities” breed standards battles and dominant designs (e.g., MAC, UNIX, OS/2 and Windows ) Many products exhibit positive “network externalities” (e.g. cellular phones and VCRs) * Turbulent markets  –Continuous new product development –Threats to overconfident, successful incumbents –Opportunities for entrepreneurial enterprises * Ibid

More Technology and Market Risk Competitive advantage is technology-fueled (e.g., semiconductors) Technology resists planning and forecasting (e.g., “known-unknowns” and “unknown- unknowns”) “ Discontinuities” create turbulent markets Large, upfront expenditures and “distant returns” (e.g., biotechnology) Significant technology and market uncertainties and risks  –Significant potential value for customers, employees and investors –Broader and deeper support infrastructure and pools of resources

Unique Vulnerability Novel technologies are enticing on their own merits (e.g., third-generation mobile networks – 3G) They suggest many – often too many – promising product possibilities and opportunities (e.g., a 3G device will be a phone, computer, television, pager, video- conferencing center, a newspaper, a diary, a credit card, etc.) * “Build it and they will come mentality” (i.e., the technology will make it possible and its adoption by potential users somehow will miraculously follow)  –“Idea-driven” ventures –Low probabilities of success * Drawn from “The Economist: A Survey of Telecoms”, Not Just Talk (Vol. 369, No. 8345, October 11-17, 2003) p. 8

More Critical Roles For People Technology and innovation are inherently knowledge- based Innovation depends critically on key people “deep” in both technology and customer need * Role of people and learning is significant large –Critical role of intellectual property protection –“Learning” organizations * Drawn from Taylor, W., The Business of Innovation: An Interview with Paul Cook (Harvard Business Review, March-April 1990)

Session Outline Why is Technological Entrepreneurship Special? E-Ink