Technology Management

By
Dr. Vijay Kr Khurana

What is Technology Management?

Technology Management (MOT) is concerned with
development, planning, implementation & assessment
of technological capabilities to shape and accomplish
the strategic & operational objectives of an
organization or central planning goals and priorities of
a nation.
Technology Management can also be defined as the
integrated planning, design, optimization, operation
and control of technological products, processes and
services, a better definition would be the management
of the use of technology for human advantage
Technology Management is set of management
disciplines that allows organizations to manage its
technological fundamentals to create competitive
advantage.

What is Technology Management?

The Association of Technology, Management, and
Applied Engineering defines Technology Management as
the field concerned with the supervision of personnel
across the technical spectrum and a wide variety of
complex technological systems. Technology Management
programs typically include instruction in production and
operations management, project management, computer
applications, quality control, safety and health issues,
statistics, and general management principles.
Typical concepts used in technology management are
technology strategy ,technology forecasting ,
technology road-mapping (mapping technologies to
business and market needs), technology project
portfolio ( a set of projects under development) and
technology portfolio (a set of technologies in use).

What is Technology
Management?

Technology Management (MOT) is mainly carried out at two

levels:
At National Level
At Enterprise Level

What is Technology
Management?

a. Technology Management (MOT) At National Level

--main obejective of is to assure that the nation and
its business firms gain sustainable technological
compeitiveness in the international markets and
maintain strong position in the international
business on long-term basis.

What is Technology
Management?

a. At national level, the domain of technology

management includes the following areas:
Developing approprate technology strategy for the
nation (e.g. internalisation vs externalisation strategy
of the nation)
Technology forecasting (i.e. forecasting the
technological changes)
Justification / appropriateness of new technology
(including justification for technology adoption )
Sustainable technologies; development of renewable
energy technologies
Sustainable economic growth
Planning national technology portfolio

What is Technology Management?

a.

Contd
Knowledge mangement (i.e. creation, deployment and
protection of national technological knowledge base)
Managing external technology acquisitions viz
guidelines for foreign technology collaborations
Managing technology absorption
Managing technology diffusion
Performance measurement of new technology
Technology and environment management (Green
accounting, Environment Protection Act, 1986 etc)
Technolgy and health & societal management

What is Technology
Management?

b. Technology Management (MOT) At Enterprise

Level ---main obejective is to assure that the firm gains &
maintains a srong position in its core technologies
which are relevant to its product-market
relationship and that these technologies support
the firms competitive strategies.

What is Technology Management?

b. Overview of Technology Management (MOT) At
Enterprise Level ----

What is Technology Management?

b. Evolution of Technology Management (MOT) At
Enterprise Level ----

What is Technology Management?

b. At enterprise level, MOT includes following areas:
Developing technology strategy (e.g. leader versus
follower strategy)
Technology forecasting
Managing enterprises technology portfoio
Technovation (technology innovation)
Knowledge management (e.g. creation, deployment,
transfer and protection of firm specific technological
knowledge viz through patent etc)
Implementation of new technology (including its
integration with the existing structure, systems and
workforce)

What is Technology Management?

b. Contd
Technology transfer (inculding problems &
management issues), Technology absorption
(inculding problems & management issues)
Managing technology change (including organizational
issues viz productivity and quality of work life)
Integration of engineering (R&D) and management
(of new project) leading to successful
implementation / commercialization
Integration of product and process technology ( for
delivering the objects)

What is Technology Management?

c. contd
Technology advancement (e.g. learning and process
improvement)
Managing technology at the boundary / border of the
firm (e.g. collaboration and coordination with supply chain
partners and customers) and Technology diffusion (from
firm to suppliers and customers)
Performance measurement of new technology (e.g.
technlogy assessment, technology audit and feedback)
Technology and environmental sustainability (e.g.
environmental impact assessment, environmental
audit, discharge of environmental responsibility, green
marketing etc)

The Key Tasks of MOT

The key tasks of MOT at enterprise level may be
summed up as below:
Technology Planning like deciding technology
strategy, selecting appropriate technologies etc.
R&D Management
Innovation Management
Strategic Management of Technology (SMOT)

Strategic Management of Technology

( SMOT)

Strategic Management of Technology (SMOT)

means that the product, service or process
technologies of an organization / enterprise are
managed from a long range prespective, as these
technologies have wide-ranging effects on all levels
and functions in the organization.
Importance / benefits of SMOT
???

STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (STMS)

Strategic Technology Management System (STMS)

calls for adopting systems approach in the
organization on long term basis i.e. STMS
emphasizes systematic management of technology
on long term basis as the technology moves along its
life cycle from birth to decline.

STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (STMS)

Strategic Technology Management System is a

systems life cycle approach for strategic
management of technology that includes eight
phases as shown below:

Phases of STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (STMS)

I. Technology Creation
This phase involves creation & generation of new
technologies. This phase involves following activities
:
Creativity & Invention
Innovation
Senior management commitment to technology
creation and generation
Developing requisite & supportive corporate culture
for promoting technology creation and generation

Phases of STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (STMS)

II. Technology Monitoring

This phase calls for monitoring technology trends and
changes before implementing new technology. It involves
following activities :
Installing & developing information systems for
monitoring technological trends and changes
Competitive analysis to understand competitiveness
provided by existing and prospective technologies
Customer & supplier interfaces to understand market and
technological changes
People links (viz. internal staff, research bodies
etc)
to understand market trends and technological changes

Phases of STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (STMS)

III. Technology Assessment

This phase involves following activities :
Understanding directions of markets in terms of
technology
Integration of technology & business planning
Customer interfaces to assess the commercial
feasibilty of prospective technologies
Assessing contributions of technology projects to
business strategy

Phases of STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (STMS)

IV. Technology Transfer

This phase leads to transfer of technology from external
source to own Research and Development (R&D); and
internally from R&D to production. This phase involves
following activities :
Entering strategic alliances to develop or acquire
potential technologies
Using product design teams for reaping benefits of
planned technological change
Reducing functional barriers to technology transfer
Utilizing people links for successful technology transfer
i.e. involving people across the organization

Phases of STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (STMS)

V. Technology Acceptance
This phase calls for acceptance of technology as a
beneficial change and involves following activities :
Supportive organizational design & structures
Supportive corporate culture
Senior management commitment
Asessment of impacts of technological change on
orgnanization, enhancing benefits, reducing adverse
effects, smoothening barriers / hurdles in the
change

Phases of STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (STMS)

VI. Technology Utilization

This phase involves following activities :
Effective project management for seeking maximum
utilization
Process technologies to support and facilitate
maximum utilization
Supportive marketing starategies, efforts and
utilizing feedback for improvement
This phase leads to technology growth as reflected by
incease in sales.

Phases of STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (STMS)

VII. Technology Maturity

This phase involves analyzing maturity of existing
technology and its related products / services /
processes through study of following indicators:
Efficiency vs. effectiveness contributed by the
current technologies in attaining organizational goals
Market stability in terms of volumes / sales
Rise of substitutes in the marketplace
Diminished returns on investment
Decline of market share
Loss of competitiveness in the marketplace

Phases of STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (STMS)

VIII. Technology Decline

This is the last phase. During this phase a technology
and its related products / services / proceses/
applications show substantial / sharp decline in usage /
applications / sales. Technology and its associated
products or services become ordinary commodity.
Technology degrades and becomes obsolete.
This phase calls for movement to new technological
opportunities.
Thereafter the cycle re-starts by the creation of a new
technlogy / movement towards a new technology. All the
above steps are repeated .

Technology Management
By
Dr. Vijay Kr Khurana