SML 703: Management of Technology Transfer and

Absorption

Reading 1: Strategic Use of Technology

By Joseph Morone

Group 9
Executive MBA, 2nd year
DMS, IIT Delhi
Entry #

NAME

2013SMN6739 Bhanu Verma

2013SMN6741 Sudatta Kar
2013SMN6753 Saurabh Sharma
2013SMN6761 Navneet Pal Singh
2013SMN6768 Aditya Kant
2013SMN6772 Gaurav Thapar
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A video on
L&T

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Agenda

About the Reading

Content of Reading
Technology and Competitive Advantage
Strategic Use of Technology
Towards an analytical framework
Hypotheses
Take Away from the Reading
References

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About the Reading

Why do some companies respond differently than others?

Some firms bring technology to bear on the market more
effectively
Within a given industry, in response to a given competitive
environment, some firms build competitive advantage on the
basis of technology
Some firms build their strategies around technology-based
opportunities
Successful firms place more emphasis on "management of
technology especially on
Integration of design and manufacturing
Balance between product and process R&D
Acquisition and integration of externally developed technology
Focus on management of technology functions as well as on
integration of technology with business strategy
Focus on response of general strategic management responds
to technological opportunity: some managers recognize the
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strategic implications and take advantage of them

Content of the Reading

Technology and Competitive Advantage

Strategic Use of Technology
Towards an analytical framework
Hypotheses

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Technology and Competitive Advantage

Technological innovation has been a powerful force for industrial

development, productivity growth and indeed, our rising standard of
living throughout history
The evidence comes from a number of directions:
Consumer Electronics
Semiconductors
Factory Automation
Productivity
Technology
Industry Life Cycles
Management of Technology

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The Strategic Use of Technology

It is the ability of the firm to translate the awareness of Developments in
particular technology field into strategic options.
Technology Strategy
As per Maidique and Patch, it consists of :
Policies and decisions involving Technology Progress
Choice between alternative new technologies
Criteria of embodiment
Its to bring the potential opportunities that technology creates to
bear on formation of corporate strategy.
Technological Leadership
As per the views of Porter and Freeman:
A companys posture towards technology should follow from its
overall corporate strategy.
But what about other ay round: Case of IBMs PC and GEs CT,
with reference to Apple and EMI?
Focus needs to be on actual behavior of firms their way of
response to stimuli of technology opportunitiesextant around them
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Towards an Analytical Framework

Problem Solving Perspective :

Why some firms make better use of technology the alternative
solutions are mostly dimly perceived and goals are ambiguous
and sometimes contradictory. The steps can therefore be broken
down into following components:
Problem Definition : Defining problem more conducive to strategic
use of technology in light of competitive environment.
Search and Evaluation: Searches and evaluation of potential
solutions. More important is that how the mangers evaluate the
options identified by technology operations (usually an acceptable
solution is chosen over optimal one).
Successive Approximation :The problem is broken down in
smaller problems and solutions also in steps. First step leads to next
and so on, and hence gradually solution is found. Firms which use
the technology exhibit different learning pattern as they have
conducive learning environment.

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Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1: In defining or representing the strategic issues confronting them, firms

that make strategic use of technology exhibit longer time horizons than their
counterparts
Hypothesis 1a: In defining the strategic issues confronting them, firms that make
strategic use of technology exhibit greater market focus than their counterparts.
Hypothesis 2: Firms that make strategic use of technology are more likely than their
counterparts to exhibit strong internal technical capabilities, which are (a) loosely
coupled to current operations, and (b) tightly coupled to strategic decision making.
Hypothesis 3: In evaluating technology-based options, firms that tend to make
strategic use of technology place more weight than their counterparts on how well the
option "fits" with their representation of the strategic issues before them, and less
weight on more formal financial and market analyses.
Hypothesis 3a: Firms that tend to select the technology option are more likely than
their counterparts to rely on experimental approaches to marketing.
Hypothesis 4: Firms that succeed in using technology for strategic advantage exhibit
a high degree of learning from experience. Successful new products and processes
emerge gradually, over the source of a sequence of earlier product and process
introductions.
Hypothesis 4a: Firms that succeed in using technology for strategic advantage exhibit
consistent and stable strategic management.

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Take Away from the Reading

Why do some companies do better job of using Technology as a source
of COMPETETIVE ADVANTAGE
Go beyond management of technology
General strategic management to technology opportunities
Technology opportunity from perspective of corporate strategist.
Learning behavior of firms
Derived hypothesis
Next step is to test the hypothesis
Need of enough studies to gain confidence in findings
Variations in the industry to generalize the findings
Research is painstaking and data is not easily available

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References
1. Strategic Use of technology By Joseph Morone, Cambridge Management
Review
2. L&T Case Study Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Yl00qTyPE

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Thank You!

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