47911342 mi0031 technology management fall 2010 set 2

7/31/2019 47911342 MI0031 Technology Management FALL 2010 Set 2

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Master of Business Administration in Information SystemMBA- Semester IV

MI0031- Technology Management 2 CreditsAssignment Set- 2 (30 Marks)

Q.1. What is Technology Forecasting? Classify the Technology Forecasting Approaches in

brief? Discuss in detail the Product Development Process Phase in Technology Management?

The seeking or anticipation of technological innovation has been called technology forecasting (TF).Over the years, fairly tried and tested techniques have been developed for TF. However, the forecasterhas to select the appropriate methodology or a combination of methodologies to make his forecastunderstandable and credible. This depends upon the nature of technology forecast and availability ofreliable data. The forecast, if appropriately and judiciously made, could serve as a valuable tool fordecision making for applying mid-course correction in a plan, or for launching new activities or

businesses with a view to achieve the desired objectives. It may be emphasized that a forecast neverforces a decision. The decision maker has all the freedom at his disposal to act judiciously and he isnot bound by the outcome of a forecast. In fact, the forecast makes him aware of alternatives which hemight not have otherwise discovered and thereby it increases his freedom to act the way he thinks bestand helps him to improve the quality of his decision.

Forecasting for technology is no different in this respect. In this context the term 'technology' shouldbe understood in a broad perspective. It includes not only specifically "mechanical / physicalhardware", but also encompasses associated "software" such as procedures and methods fororganizing human activity, and means for manipulating or engineering human behavior. Thus,technological forecast is a prediction of the future characteristics of useful machines, products,

processes, procedures or techniques. There are two important points implied in this statement, viz.:a) A technological forecast deals with certain characteristics such as levels of technical performance(e.g., technical specifications including energy efficiency, emission levels, speed, power, safety,temperature, etc.), rate of technological advances (introduction of paperless office, picture phone, newmaterials, costs, etc.).b) Technological forecasting also deals with useful machines, procedures, or techniques. In particular,this is intended to exclude from the domain of technological forecasting those items intended forpleasure or amusement since they depend more on personal fads, foibles or tastes rather than ontechnological capability. Anticipating technological change is an important management function.

One must do so to plan new products and new businesses. One must also avoid being technologically

blind-sided by competitors with technologically superior products. Yet this is not easy to do becauseoften technological progress cannot be anticipated. However, it can also be planned.

Generally, one may use the following stages to describe the progress of an innovation throughout itslife from beginning till end:a) Basic scientific findings/discovery of a principleb) Laboratory or bench level feasibilityc) Operating prototype/pilot plantd) Commercial introduction or operational usee) Widespread adoption


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f) Diffusion to other areasg) Social and economic impact

Each of these stages has a specific role to play and contribute to the innovation of a technology.Briefly, they are described as under:

a) Basic scientific findings / discovery: This establishes the minimum knowledge base on the basis of

sound scientific principles from which a solution to a specific problem could be found.

b) Laboratory or bench level feasibility: At this stage, depending on the identified problem, alaboratory workable model could be fabricated without violating any natural or physical laws. Thiswould generally be able to work in the desired way only in the laboratory environment, undercontrolled conditions and supervision of trained scientists, technologists or technicians.

c) Operating prototype/pilot plant: On reaching this stage, it would be possible to obtaindesign/engineering parameters to construct a device/system which would be capable of working in anoperational environment using commercially available inputs.

d) Commercial introduction or operational use: This stage represents not only technical and designadequacy, but also economic feasibility. Generally, the first production model is the benchmark ofcompletion of this stage.

e) Widespread adoption: At this stage having demonstrated the technical and/or economic and/orenvironmental superiority, the technology is now poised to supersede and replace the prior devices,Procedures etc. on a wide scale.

f) Diffusion to other areas: At this stage, the new technology not only replaces the old one, but is alsoadopted to perform such functions as were not being performed by the earlier devices and techniques.

g) Social and economic impact: At this stage, the innovation will affect the behavior of the society andits use may reach a point where its impact will be felt on the economy.

Q.2. Describe in detail the Technology Life Cycle? What is the influence of IT revolution on

technological changes? Explain what is meant by Generation & Development of Technologies?

What is Technology Strategy and what is its importance at the corporate level?

Technology Life CycleThe life span of various technologies can be conveniently identified as consisting of four distinctstages, all of which taken together form the Technology Life Cycle. The stages of technology lifecycle are innovation, syndication, diffusion, and substitution.

Innovation stage: This stage represents the birth of a new product, material or process resulting fromR&D activities. In R&D laboratories, new ideas are generated by need pull and knowledge pushfactors. Depending upon the resource allocation and also the change element, the time taken in theinnovation stage as well as in the subsequent stages varies widely. You will recall we had discussedthe terms innovation and invention in the previous Unit.Syndication stage: This stage represents the demonstration (pilot production) and commercializationof a new technology (product, material or process) with potential for immediate utilization. Manyinnovations are shelved in R&D laboratories. Only a very small percentage of these are


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commercialized. Commercialization of research outcomes depends on technical as well as non-technical (mostly economic) factors.Diffusion stage: This represents the market penetration of a new technology through acceptance of theinnovation by potential users of the technology. But supply and demand side factors jointly influencethe rate of diffusion.Substitution stage: This last stage represents the decline in the use and eventual extension of atechnology due to replacement by another technology. Many technical and non-technical factors

influence the rate of substitution. The time taken in the substitution stage depends on the marketdynamics.

Technology generation and development is often synonymous with the term "Research andDevelopment (R&D)". However, technology generation involves R&D efforts while technologydevelopment involves further stages of translating R&D efforts into marketable products, processesand services. Basically, one can consider the R&D process as having four distinct stages as shown in.

Recognition of a need for innovation is one of the motivations for R&D. "Research" on existingknowledge for satisfying identified need helps in idea generation this is the "need push". The otherprimary motivation for R&Dis to find potential applications for advances in knowledge. Research" on is converted into amarketable product or service (a hardware or software intensive technology).

Existing activity for introducing new knowledge also helps in idea generation - this is the"technology-push". "Development" includes engineering (creation, design and production) andmarketing (first use and diffusion) of the generated idea. Through the entire process it is ideas andknowledge which are being pursued, and the process is not complete until the new idea

Process of Technology Generation

Technology is generated in R&D organizations. An illustration of the various inputs required forgeneration of technologies is given in Figure 5.2. Goals, surroundings, criteria and resource allocationare some of the inputs to R&D, the output of which is technology. The input resources into R&Dorganizations are the traditional inputs such as money, materials, facilities, energy, labour andmanagement, and the intelligence-based inputs such as science, knowledge, skills, information andexisting technologies. The effectiveness of any R&D is determined in terms of the 'usefulness' of thetechnologies it produces with respect to the overall objectives of the corporation. Besides the variousfactors discussed in earlier paras, the R&D or technology generation involves many other aspects suchas, monitoring and evaluation of R&D projects, funding of R&D, training and development 0!resource personnel, interactions at all levels, management policies and support, the availability ofsupport structures and incentives at government level, timely collection and interpretation of technicaland other information, etc. Some of these aspects have been discussed in detail elsewhere in thiscourse. The quality of resource leadership and commitment of the top management for research isextremely important. In Indian industry or corporate sector, it is generally observed that the research

personnel occupy secondary place to finance, marketing and production personnel, and are not givendue importance in decision-making at corporate level. Sometimes, inefficient personnel from otherdepartments are posted or transferred to R&D department, thereby indicating a complete neglect ofR&D concept. Such management attitudes need to be changed in the overall interest of the company.

Corporate Research and Product LifetimesR&D projects in corporate research create and extend the lifetimes of corporate products, avoidingtechnological obsolescence of businesses.Extending product lifetimes can be done by:


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1) Improving the production processes to lower production costs and increase quality;2) Upgrading and improving current product models;3) Creating next generation product models.

The function of corporate research is to create and extend the lifetimes of the company's products.This is an essential function because all products have finite lifetimes (sometimes as short as one yearand sometimes as long as several years). In times of new and rapidly changing technologies, lifetime$

tend to be short. A mature technology product may have a very long lifetime if no clearly superiortechnology has emerged. But even in a long-lived product, periodic reformulations, variation inproduct lines, and changes in packaging provide some change in the product. To maintain a long-livedproduct, quality must be maintained on par with competing products, if not more, and cost reductionin production must be ahead of competitors. Product lifetimes are dependent on two factors:technological obsolescence and product substitution.

47911342 mi0031 technology management fall 2010 set 2

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