Chapter 1 - Technology Management

Course Contents: Introduction to Technology Management, TM activities and

tools, The TM frame-work, TM activities behind technological capabilities, TM
tools, Cases illustrating different TM system configurations.

Contents
Chapter 1 - Technology Management............................................................................................. 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2
Classification of Technology ...................................................................................................... 3
Roles Relative to Technology ..................................................................................................... 4
Technological Change ................................................................................................................ 4
Measurement of Technological Change ..................................................................................... 5
Rate of Improvement of Technology ...................................................................................... 5
Rate of Substitution of Technology ........................................................................................ 5
Rate of Diffusion of Technology ............................................................................................ 5
Technological Change Theories ................................................................................................. 5
Neo-Classical Theory.............................................................................................................. 5
Marxist Theory........................................................................................................................ 6
Schumpeter’s theory ............................................................................................................... 6
Evolutionary Theory ............................................................................................................... 7
Market-Pull Theory................................................................................................................. 7
Technology-Push theory ......................................................................................................... 8
Technology Management............................................................................................................ 8
Types of Technology Management ............................................................................................ 9
Technological Innovation ......................................................................................................... 11
Innovation Management ........................................................................................................... 13
Technology Management Framework ...................................................................................... 13
Technology Management Capabilities ..................................................................................... 15
Introduction
In the past, the value of a company was assessed largely on the basis of its capital
and physical assets such as land, buildings, equipment, and inventory. Today, the
real value of a company is much more than the value of its physical assets or its
revenue. Technology adds value to the assets of a company.

The role of technology in fostering economic growth of nations and enhancing their
industrial competitiveness has been widely recognized, through its domineering
influence over industrial productivity. Further, technology has emerged as the most
important resource that contributes directly to socio-economic development. Hence,
technology is viewed from various perspectives: as an ‘engine for economic
development’, as a ‘strategic resource’, and as a ‘competitive weapon’.

Technological development is becoming very important to all firms competing in

global highly competitive environment. The increasing of customer needs, demand,
and expectations and with the accelerated rates of technological change and
development, business owners are becoming more conscious of the strategic
importance of technology in delivering value to their companies and networks in
which they operate. However, adopting new technologies should be aligned with
organization’s vision and strategic goals, and it should support the company’s
sustainable development and enhance its performance.

The word ‘technology’ has a wider connotation and refers to the collection of
production possibilities, techniques, methods and processes by which resources are
actually transformed by humans to meet their wants. For example, Ferré (1988) has
defined technology as “practical implementations of intelligence”. However,
Gendron (1977) has provided a more comprehensive definition: “A technology is
any systematized practical knowledge, based on experimentation and/or scientific
theory, which is embodied in productive skills, organization, or machinery”.
Technology can also mean skills to apply proper techniques (Hakkarainen, 2006) or
practical application of knowledge (Webster 2010). ‘Technology’ is also defined by
(Steele, 1989) as ‘knowledge of how to do things’, or ‘capabilities that an enterprise
needs in order to provide its customers with the goods and services it proposes to
offer, both now and in the future’. (Burgelman, 2001) defines technology as
“technology refers to theoretical and practical knowledge, skills and artifacts that can
be used to develop products and services as well their production and delivery
systems. (Floyd 1997; Steele 1989;Whipp 1991) describe the technology as applied
knowledge focusing on the “know-how” of the organization. In many different
bodies, one can recognize technology such as equipment, human resources, raw
materials, as well as cognitive and physical processes.
Just to conclude, we can say that technology can be defined as all the knowledge,
products, processes, tools, methods and systems employed in the creation of goods
or in providing services. It is common to think of technology in terms of hardware,
such as machines computers, or highly advanced electronic gadgets. However,
technology embraces a lot more than just machines. It has three interdependent
and equally important components.

1. Hardware: The physical configuration and logical design of the equipment

or machinery, which is tangible, that is to be used to carry out the required
task.
2. Software: The knowledge which is intangible used for the functioning of
hardware in order to carry out the required tasks.
3. Brain ware: Analyzing the functionality of the technology with causality.
4. Know-how: Knowledge of how to do things or tasks effectively which is a
result of experience or by technology transfer.

Classification of Technology

New technology: A technology which is newly introduced which can have its
influence on the products of an organization.

Emerging Technology: A technology that is not yet fully commercialized, but

has the potential to become so within about five years. It usually has high levels of
research expenditure

Low technology: the technologies that have permeated large segments of human
society. Low technologies are utilized by a wide variety of industries having the
following characteristics:
 They employ people with relatively low levels of education or skill.
 They use manual or semiautomatic operations.
 They have low levels of research expenditure.
 The technology base is stable with little change.
 The products produced are mostly of the type that satisfies basic human
needs such as food, shelter, clothing and basic human services.

Medium technology: the term medium technology comprises a wide set of

technologies that fall between high and low technologies.

Appropriate Technology: The term appropriate technology is used to indicate a

good match between the technology utilized and resources required for its optimal
use.

Tacit technology: Tacit technology is non-articulated knowledge. There is no

uniformity in the way it is presented or expressed to a large group of people. It is
 usually based on experience and therefore remains within the minds of developers.
The technology developers are the ones who have the know-how in question.

Codified technology: Codified technology, on the other hand, allows people to

know how technology works but not necessarily why it works in a certain way.
The brain ware may be part of the tacit knowledge kept in minds of developers and
shaped by their experiences during the development process.

Roles Relative to Technology

Technological Change

Technological change has been broadly defined as: “the process by which economies
change over time in respect of the products and services they produce and the
processes used to produce them”. More specifically, it has been termed as:
“Alteration in physical processes, materials, machinery or equipment, which has
impact on the way work is performed or on the efficiency or effectiveness of the
enterprise”. Technological change may involve a change in the output, raw materials,
work organization or management techniques - but in all cases it affects the
relationship between labor, capital and other factors of production. While the
policies to stimulate technological progress and productivity growth - at both
national and firm levels - must be formulated in a broad socio-economic context,
their focus ought to be on the internal dynamics of technological change. It has been
suggested that the knowledge pertaining to technological change in the less
developed countries would be a crucial input to the understanding of the
phenomenon in industrialized nations.
Measurement of Technological Change
Measurement of technological change depends on various factors. Two of the most
important factors are:

1. Economic Indices: Arithmetic indices are derived based on price variations

in capital and labor in relation to the industrial output. Technological change
is measured as the weighted average of the change in factor prices, holding
inputs constant. Solow derived a geometric index based on the premise that
technological change is equal to the change in output not accounted for by
the changes in labor and capital.
2. Patents: Patent statistics have been used as indicators of technological
change. They have also been used to analyze the diffusion of technology
across firms or industries or countries. Patent studies are also concerned with
the analysis of the innovation process itself in order to assess and evaluate the
output of research activity.

Rate of Improvement of Technology

A figure of merit for each functional capability of a technology is to be identified.
For a product it could be travel speed per unit time (transport vehicles), or lumens
per watt (lighting fixtures), or instruction execution rate per second (computers). For
a process, it could be the efficiency of fuel utilization or reduction in waste
generation. S-shaped growth curves are formulated to form a system of curves
depicting advancement of technologies.

Rate of Substitution of Technology

It is determined on the basis of relative changes in the market shares of two
technologies or two sets of technologies. Cumulative pattern of gain in market share
by a technology exhibits S-shaped growth.

Rate of Diffusion of Technology

It represents the cumulative number of adopters of a new product, material or
process. This follows an S-shaped curve.

Technological Change Theories

In literature various theories related to technological change have been introduced.
Some of them are summeriezed in the following paragraphs (Saren, 1991; Sharif,
1986; Stoneman, 1983; Saviotti, 1985).

Neo-Classical Theory
The basic tool for the study of technological change is the notion of a production
function which specifies a quantitative relation between inputs and outputs. The most
common inputs are capital and labor, which are called factors of production. The
production function can be represented as a series of isoquants - curves
corresponding to the constant output obtainable by the infinite number of available
combinations of the factors of production. At any given time there is a given level of
technology which determines the techniques available for production.

According to this theory technological change takes place in the form of shifts of the
production function towards the origin.

Some of the major limitations of neo-classical theory are:

• Only labor and capital are incorporated as factors of production. The inclusion
of more factors, however, makes the application of the production function
analytically more complicated.
• The presence of infinite techniques at a given level of technology is rather
unrealistic. Real life situations often imply a choice between a restricted
number of options.
• Only cost-reducing improvements can be described by the production function.
Improvements in performance or the appearance of new services find no place
in this theory.

• Though an efficient tool for equilibrium analysis of economic life, it is ill at

ease when dealing with dynamic problems.

Marxist Theory
Karl Marx perceived technology as not self generating, but as a process directed by
willful, conscious, active people and molded by historical forces. He held that
technological change - the development of the productive forces - was the prime
mover of history. The individual entrepreneur invests and innovates because it is
rational for profit maximization or necessary for survival. Marx seemed to be under
the spell that innovations simply must be labor-saving.

Major limitations of the Marxist theory are:

• Undermining of capital-saving innovations.

• Underemphasizing the concept of productivity.
• Controversy involved in the theory of the falling rate of profit.

Schumpeter’s theory
This theory views innovation as the engine of economic development and as a
disequilibrium phenomenon. Innovation is defined as the carrying out of new
combinations of means of production, which include a wide variety of cases such as:
• the introduction of a new good or of a new quality of a good, or of a new
method of production,
• the opening of a new market,
• the conquest of a new source of supply of raw materials,
 • the carrying out of a new organization of any industry.
The emphasis is laid on the notion that technological change is to be understood as a
case of innovation more generally and not as another piece of routine economic
behavior. Schumpeter’s formulation of production function differed from neo-
classical theory in that capital was excluded and only labor and land were included
as inputs.
Major limitations of this theory are:
• Psychology of the entrepreneur (the embodied aspect of innovation) is an
elusive phenomenon.
• No explicit attention is paid to the process by which innovation is generated.
• Lack of empirical evidence.

Evolutionary Theory
This suggests a biological analogy to explain technological change. The Darwinian
two-state process of mutation (invention) and selection (innovation) has been
employed to understand the evolution of technology. Biological evolution appears to
have a certain correspondence with the interpretation of technological changes in
industrial sectors - from a state of flux when product innovation prevails in the
search for a successful design, to a maturity phase where incremental process
innovation prevails.

Major limitations of the evolutionary theory are:

• Dearth of quantitative models.
• Many propositions need to be validated.

Market-Pull Theory
Markets govern the innovation process. The market constitutes a communication
channel through which political, economic, social and ecological forces influence
buyers in their demand for technological products. Continuous changes in these
forces have an impact on the response provided by technology with respect to the
type, capabilities, performance, safeguards, solutions, etc. These messages are
transmitted and communicated through the market where buyer’s requirements
(themselves influenced by external forces) are matched with technological changes
and where future demands can be detected by the producers of technology.

Major limitations of this theory are:

• The logical and practical difficulties in interpreting the innovation process.
• Difficulties of defining demand functions as determined by utility functions.
• The incapability of defining the ‘why’, ‘when’ and ‘where’ of certain
technological developments instead of others.
Technology-Push theory
Technology is defined as an autonomous or quasi-autonomous factor. It assumes a
one-way causal determination approach, i.e., from science to technology to the
economy. It proposes that technological developments occur exogenously through
discoveries, theories, ideas and R & D work, which may or may not then create (or
be matched with latent) demand for their output.

Major limitations of this theory are:

• Failure to take into account the intuitive importance of economic factor in
shaping the direction of technological change.
• Lack of understanding of the complex structure of feedbacks between the
economic environment and the directions of technological change.

Technology Management
Fredmund Malik defines management as "the transformation of resources into
utility." Management can be an art and to some extent a technology. As a field, it has
a knowledge base and guiding principles which provide the means by which the
desired goals of an enterprise are achieved. It encompasses various functions,
including planning, organizing, staffing, motivating and controlling activities of the
organization. Now-a-days, majority of these functions are managed or performed
through technology.

The successful use of technology can offer many competitive advantages; so

organizations have become more conscious of the value of technology when it is
applied in their businesses. In today’s rapidly changing environment with increasing
cost, complexity, competition and rate of technological changes, the needs for
technology management has become an urgent issue for every company and
organization (Steele, 1989). It also necessitates effective management of technology
- at both national and firm levels. As a result, Technology Management has now
occupied the centre stage of decision-making.

Technology Management is a set of disciplines that allows organizations or a nation

to manage their technological fundamentals to create competitive advantage through
planning and developing its technological capabilities. Management of technology
links engineering, science and management disciplines to plan, develop and
implement technological capabilities to shape and accomplish the strategic and
operational objectives of organization. It allows organizations to manage their
technological fundamentals to create competitive advantage trough addressing
several interconnected issues such as:
 technology policy;
 technological forecasting and assessment;
 technology strategy;
 technology transfer;
 technology project management;
 technology research and development;
  human resource management in terms of innovative capabilities, flexibility
and contribution
 continuing improvement of process and product technology.

In literature, various definitions of Technology Management (TM) have been

produced. Some of them are reported here:

 NRC/National Research Council (1987) describes TM as “a process, which

includes planning, directing, control and coordination of the development
and implementation of technological capabilities to shape and accomplish
the strategic and operational objectives of an organization.”

 The U.S National Research council report (1987) on management of

technology defined it as “an interdisciplinary field concerned with the
planning, development and implementation of technological capabilities to
shape and accomplish the operational and strategic objectives of an
organization”.

 The Association of Technology, Management and Applied Engineering

defines “Technology management as the field of study that impacts skills
and knowledge, designed to improve the entire process of technological
change and from systems planning and design, to introduction, to
evaluation of effectiveness”.

According to Gaynor (1989), managing technology is a method of operation that

leverages human resources, technology and other business assets by optimizing the
relationships between the technology functions of the business enterprise. It is the
process of integrating science, engineering and managing with research,
development and manufacturing in order to meet the operational goals of the
business unit effectively, efficiently and economically. It includes managing the
totality of the technology operations from concept through commercialization. In this
regard, Tschirky has identified three levels of management tasks:
1. Normative level: This level deals with the company’s major decisions, that
vividly demonstrate its associated culture and policy
2. Strategic level: a comprehensive technology strategy, with a dominant
principle of effectiveness is translated into the company’s policy
3. Operative level: this changes the businesses strategies into practice over the
short term, with efficiency as the primary principle.

Types of Technology Management

TM has become an organized and systematic discipline. As TM embraces several
inter-connected issues ranging from policy planning at the national level to strategic
planning at the firm level, it calls for decisions and result-oriented actions at the
macro-as well as micro-levels and an effective macro-micro linkage.
Macro technology management commonly refers to technology management at the
national level. It includes:

 Planning for the development of technological capabilities at the national

level.
 Identification of key sectoral technology and related fields to be
developed.
 Determining ‘make’ or ‘buy’ decisions, i.e., whether importation or self-
development is to be pursued.
 Establishment of institutional mechanisms for directing and coordinating
the development of national technological capabilities.
 Design of policy measures for controls.

Micro technology management concerns technology management at the firm or

project level. It includes:

 Responding to competitors who are using technology as a strategic

weapon.
 Integrating technology strategy into the overall corporate strategy.
 Identifying and evaluating technological options and innovations and the
factors relating to their success and failure.
 Directing research and development itself, including determination and
definition of project feasibility.
 Monitoring and planning technological obsolescence and replacement.

Both macro and micro-technology management seek to raise economic efficiency.

Micro TM is the basis for macro TM, while the latter provides guidelines and an
environment for the former. Consistency among these two levels of management is
essential, but institutional mechanisms will largely determine whether they are
effectively combined. While macro-support could catalyze changes, the real actions
have to take place at the industry level.

In order to maintain technology and update the technology with the current changes,
there are certain activities (like Innovation, Protection, Identification, Selection,
Acquisition, Exploitation, Transfer, Learning including Diffusion & Absorption,)
and functions (like Planning and Forecasting, Decision Making, Organizing, and
Leading Technical People) that every organization has to understand. In addition the
technology management community has developed some tools for effective
technology management, like S–curve, Patent Analysis, Portfolio Management,
Roadmapping, and Value Analysis/Value Innovation. These activities, functions and
tools are the building blocks of Technology Management.
Technological Innovation
Typically it is thought of as a new product development. It refers to the process in
which a new idea is embodied in tools, devices, or procedures that are of practical
value to society. Technological innovations often involve tools and procedures,
products and processes, interacting in new ways. Technological innovation can also
be an improvement in instruments or methods of making or doing innovation (Kline
and Rosenberg, 1986). For example, it may be a new process of production; a
substitution of a cheaper material, newly developed for a given task, in an essentially
unaltered product; or the reorganization of production, internal functions, or
distribution arrangements, leading to increased efficiency, better support for a given
product, or lower costs.

Technological innovation has been described often as a linear process of distinct

stages or phases:
 innovation begins with scientific discovery,
 proceeds through development of practical applications of this discovery,
and
 finally achieves success as dissemination and implementation at the hands
of users.

This linear model is overly simplified. In fact, the innovation process may be quite
non-linear, drawing repeatedly on basic knowledge, responding to newly perceived
needs, and modifying earlier concepts of the tool, device, or procedure that
eventually evolves (Tornatzky et al. 1990). Nevertheless, the progress of innovation
requires, first, understanding of the basic principles and processes that permit
manipulation of the physical environment, and then the interaction of often complex
social forces through which this understanding is to be put to use.

In fact, the process of technological innovation is a complex set of activities that

transforms ideas and scientific knowledge into physical reality and real world
application. There are eight stages in the process of technological innovation.

1. Basic research: It for the sake of increasing our general understanding of

laws of nature. It is a process of generating knowledge over a long period
of time. It may or may not result in specific application.
2. Applied research: It is directed toward solving one or more of society's
problems. Basic and applied research advance sciences by systematically
building knowledge on previous knowledge. Successful applied research
results in technology development and implementation.
3. Collaboration Teamwork is essential to getting things done. In today's
global and digital 24/7 world, challenges are more complex; it's
becoming increasingly important to bring more, diverse minds to the
table and to break down silos. Collaborative process is more than
working together. It means the ability to think together and to act on
complex projects. A successful collaboration is mainly based on:
  Listen and explore—What can we do together?
 Learn and adjust—How will we learn together?
 Focus and align—What should we do together?
 Link and leverage—What will we do together?
4. Technology development: This is a human activity that converts
knowledge and ideas into physical hardware, software, or service. It may
involve demonstrating the feasibility of an idea, verifying a design
concept, or building and testing a prototype.
5. Technology implementation: A step-by-step process or “roadmap” for
technology Implementation, which outlines how to plan, implement, and
sustain the use of technology in the target market.
6. Production Across all production environments, most manufacturing
processes fit into one of five general categories:
 Repetitive
 Discrete
 Job Shop
 Process (batch), and
 Process (continuous)

To get single product out of the door, most companies use a combination
of more than one of these environments.

7. Marketing/Commercialization is the process by which a new product or

service is introduced into the general market. The process of
commercialization is broken into phases, from the initial introduction of
the product through its mass production and adoption. It takes into
account the production, distribution, marketing, sales and customer
support required to achieve commercial success.

As a strategy, commercialization requires that a business develop a

marketing plan, determine how the product will be supplied to the market
and anticipate barriers to success. The process of commercialization is
like a funnel. At the widest part are the many ideas that a company might
have for launching a product. As the funnel narrows, the company weeds
out ideas based on logistics and costs, consumer and economic trends,
and feasibility. Commercialization is part of a larger feedback loop for a
product, as the ultimate introduction of the product into the market may
require adjustments to the process.

For a potential product to be eligible for commercialization, it must have

a level of public value that could result in overall profitability. These
products may be developed within commercial businesses, government
agencies, educational institutions or other entities involved in various
forms of research and development.
 8. Proliferation
9. Technology enhancement.

Innovation Management
Innovation, although not sufficient, is a necessary prerequisite for the continued
survival and development of enterprises. The most direct way of business innovation
is through technological innovation, disruptive innovation or social innovation.
Management of innovation, however, plays a significant role in promoting
technological and institutional innovation.
The goal of innovation management within a company is to cultivate a suitable
environment to encourage innovation. The suitable environment would help the
firms get more cooperation projects, even ‘the take-off platform for business
ventures’. Senior management's support is crucial to successful innovation; clear
direction, endorsement, and support are essential to innovation pursuits.
Innovation management allows the organization to respond to external or internal
opportunities, and use its creativity to introduce new ideas, processes or products. It
is not relegated to R&D; it involves workers at every level in contributing creatively
to a company's product development, manufacturing and marketing. It helps an
organization grasp an opportunity and use it to create and introduce new ideas,
processes, or products industriously. Creativity is the basis of innovation
management; the end goal is a change in services or business process. Hence, the
innovative management process can be viewed as an evolutionary integration of
organization, technology, and market, by iterating series of activities: search, select,
implement and capture.

Innovation management is based on two consecutive steps, imitation and invention,

and a set of tools that allow managers and engineers to cooperate with a common
understanding of processes and goals. By utilizing innovation management tools,
management can trigger and deploy the creative capabilities of the work force for the
continuous development of a company. Common tools include brainstorming, virtual
prototyping, product lifecycle management, ideation, TRIZ, Phase–gate
model, project management, product line planning and portfolio management.

Innovation processes can either be pushed or pulled through development.

A pushed process is based on existing or newly invented technology that the
organization has access to. The goal is to find profitable applications for the already-
existing technology. A pulled process, by contrast, is based on finding areas where
customers' needs are not met and finding solutions to those needs. To succeed with
either method, an understanding of both the market and the technical problems are
needed. By creating multi-functional development teams, containing engineers and
marketers, both dimensions can be solved.

Technology Management Framework

A set of management definitions, concepts, activities, stages, and
procedures Researchers have developed a range of concepts, stages,
procedures, activities and management definitions, all of which are
directed towards forming and articulating a certain framework of
technology management as the TM methodology.

In order to: explore the methods and techniques of technology

management; identify and investigate the meaning of technology
management; and to clarify its functions, various Technology
Management models, frameworks, definitions, concepts, assumptions,
and proposals have been articulated1.

Gregory (1995) described technology management as a five step model

which includes identification, selection, acquisition, development,
exploitation and protection of technologies (product, process and
infrastructural), which in adherence to the company’s objectives, are
needed to uphold company performance and market position

1. Identification: The spine of the management process is seen to be

the identification of technologies, crucial to the company’s

1
(Sarkis,J. 1995; Dey., 1996; Chan,S.L and Choi C.F, 1997; Lopes and Flavell,
1998; Haas and Kleingeld, 1999; Garshnek et al., 2000; Pretorius and Wet, 2000;
Sharratt and Choong, 2002;).
 strategic operations. Such identification processes include:
scanning and monitoring, technology forecasting, customers
orientation, technology intelligence, data collection and
benchmarking. Such work will show how the business identifies
the technologies it uses, how the company forecasts for success of
new technology, how scanning and monitoring for the new
technologies are performed, how the company identifies the
customer needs and requirements, and what are the main factors
that affect the identification process.
2. Selection: selection of those technologies that are chosen to
support companies and organization. Such processes include:
scenario analysis, portfolio analysis, expert judgment, decision
criteria and financial analysis. Since technology selection requires
one to make accurate decisions with regards to the correct
technologies, it is crucial for the organization. This is especially
so when decisions are made that require long term investments.
Also, the business must concentrate on quantitative, qualitative,
intangible and tangible criteria in the selection of its technology.
This process is necessary so that the business adopts systematic
procedure in its selection process.

3. Acquisition of technologies that have been selected. Example

processes include internal research and development, Joint
Ventures, Organizational Change, Project Management,
Licensing, corporate mergers and acquisitions, technology
transfer, technology insertion.
4. Protection of knowledge and expertise. Processes include
patenting, contracts, risk assessment, copyrights, staff retention,
security management.
5. Exploitation of technologies. Example processes include process
improvements, licensing, new product development, and supply
chain management.

Technology Management Capabilities

1. Have the capacity and ability to perform technology Identification
2. Have the capacity and ability to perform Selection
3. Have the capacity and ability to perform Acquisition
4. Have the capacity and ability to perform Exploitation
5. Have the capacity and ability to perform Protection
6. Have the capacity and ability to Learn about new technologies
7. Have the capacity and ability to perform Strategic Management
8. Have the capacity and ability to perform Innovation Management
9. Have the capacity and ability to perform Project Management
10.Have the capacity and ability to perform Knowledge Management
11.Have the capacity and ability to perform Technology Management