1. Managing Technology and Innovation
Chapter 17
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2011 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Learning Objectives
LO 1 List the types of processes that spur development of new technologies LO 2 Describe how technologies proceed through a life cycle LO 3 Discuss ways to manage technology for competitive advantage LO 4 Summarize how to assess technology needs

3. Learning Objectives (cont.)
LO 5 Identify alternative methods of pursuing technological innovation
LO 6 Define key roles in managing technology
LO 7 Describe the elements of an innovative organization
LO 8 List characteristics of successful development projects

4. Technology and Innovation
The systematic application of scientific knowledge to a new product, process, or service.

5. Technology and Innovation
A change in method or technology; a positive, useful departure from previous ways of doing things.

6. Forces Driving Technological Development
Must be a need, or demand, for the technology
Meeting the need must be theoretically possible, and the knowledge to do so must be available from basic science
Must be able to convert the scientific knowledge into practice in both engineering and economic terms

7. Forces Driving Technological Development
The funding, skilled labor, time, space, and other resources needed to develop the technology must be available
Entrepreneurial initiative is needed to identify and pull all the necessary elements together.

8. Technology Life Cycle Technology life cycle
A predictable pattern followed by a technological innovation, from its inception and development to market saturation and replacement.

9. The Technology Life Cycle
Figure 17.1

10. Technology Dissemination Pattern and Adopter Categories
Figure 17.2

11. Diffusion of Technological Innovations
Innovators
Early Adopters
Early Majority
Late Majority
Laggards

12. Diffusion of Technological Innovations
An innovation will spread quickly if it
Has a great advantage over its predecessor
Is compatible with existing systems, procedures, infrastructures, and ways of thinking
Has less rather than greater complexity
Can be tried and tested easily without significant cost or commitment
Can be observed and copied easily

13. Technological Innovation in a Competitive Environment

14. Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology Leadership
Table 17.1

15. Technology Followership
A manager’s decision on when to adopt new technology also depends on the potential benefits of the new technology, as well as the organization’s technology skills
Following the technology leader can save development expense

16. Dynamic Forces of a Technology’s Competitive Impact
Figure 17.3

17. Assessing Technology Needs
Technology audit
Process of clarifying the key technologies on which an organization depends

18. Measuring Current Technologies
Emerging technologies are still under development and thus are unproved
Pacing technologies have yet to prove their full value but have the potential to alter the rules of competition by providing significant advantage

19. Measuring Current Technologies
Key technologies have proved effective, but they also provide a strategic advantage because not everyone uses them
Base technologies are those that are commonplace in the industry; everyone must have them to be able to operate

20. Assessing External Technological Trends
Benchmarking
the process of comparing the organization’s practices and technologies with those of other companies

21. Assessing External Technological Trends
Scanning
focuses on what can be done and what is being developed
places greater emphasis on identifying and monitoring the sources of new technologies for an industry

22. Key Factors to Consider in Technology Decisions
Anticipated market receptiveness
Technology feasibility
Economic viability
Anticipated competency development
Organizational suitability

23. Framing Decisions about Technological Innovation
Table 17.2

24. Sourcing and Acquiring New Technologies
Make-or-buy decision
The question an organization asks itself about whether to acquire new technology from an outside source or develop it itself.

25. Sourcing and Acquiring New Technologies
Internal development
Purchase
Contracted development
Licensing
Technology trading
Research partnerships and joint ventures
Acquisition of the owner of the technology

26. Sourcing and Acquiring New Technologies
Managers should ask the following basic questions:
Is it important (and possible) in terms of competitive advantage that the technology remain proprietary?
Are the time, skills, and resources for internal development available?
Is the technology readily available outside the company?

27. Technology Acquisition Options
Figure 17.4

28. Technology and Managerial Roles
Chief information officer (CIO)
executive in charge of information technology strategy and development.
coordinate the technological efforts of the various business units
identify ways that technology can support the company’s strategy
supervise new-technology development

29. Technology and Managerial Roles
Technical innovator
A person who develops a new technology or has the key skills to install and operate the technology
Product champion
A person who promotes a new technology throughout the organization in an effort to obtain acceptance of and support for it.

30. Technology and Managerial Roles
Executive champion
An executive who supports a new technology and protects the product champion of the innovation.

31. Organizing for Innovation
Unleashing creativity involves encouraging creativity and celebrating failure
Bureaucracy busting is necessary because bureaucracy is the enemy of innovation

32. 3M’s Rules for an Innovative Culture
Table 17.3

33. Organizing for Innovation
Development project
A focused organizational effort to create a new product or process via technological advances

34. Organizing for Innovation
Sociotechnical systems
An approach to job design that attempts to redesign tasks to optimize operation of a new technology while preserving employees’ interpersonal relationships and other human aspects of the work

35. Compensation Practices in Traditional and Advanced Manufacturing Firms
Table 17.4