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ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS

PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY

Advances in technology streamline business processes

Business systems technology has advanced just as significantly allowing finance

and accounting organizations to streamline their business processes with improved cycle

times, reduced costs, and automated controls that ensure compliance. Many leading E&P

companies are automating processes now to achieve a lower cost, flexible cost structure

that positions them to scale operations without adding headcount once drilling activity

increases with economic recovery. Accounts payable (AP) is a major cross-functional

process that can be dramatically transformed through IT automation.

Engaging in a comprehensive business process analysis provides insight into how to

improve processes from a student-centric perspective. By doing so, institutions often find

that they can improve service levels with the same or fewer resources. Business process

analysis and reengineering does not necessarily result in technology changes, acquisitions

or further automation. It simply focuses on increasing efficiency, effectiveness and

establishing goal oriented processing. “At the heart of reengineering is the notion of

discontinuous thinking – of recognizing and breaking away from outdated rules and

fundamental assumptions that underlie operations.” (Hammer, 1990)

Business process review and reengineering is ideally an on-going process. However, due

to resource and time resource constraints, it is often something that is undertaken when

change must occur to resolve a critical situation. Regardless of when the activity is

undertaken, the focus should be on the following:

Aligning existing policies and procedures (formal and informal) with the process

and in support of student success;

A holistic approach that involves all process stakeholders (including students) in

constructive inquiry;

Gaining a complete understanding of the service area where the process resides;

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Reviewing the technology that supports the process;

Identification of improvement opportunities, especially high-impact

improvements yielding the greatest improvement in processes;

When improvement opportunities are identified; offering quick and tangible

results; and making sure to communicate changes and results to all stakeholders.

The greatest challenges faced by an institution engaging in business process

reengineering are a lack of sustained administrative commitment, the setting of an

unrealistic scope and expectations, a culture that is resistant to change, inadequate

resources dedicated to the process and an unpredictable external environment (Malhotra,

1998; Balzer, 2010). Included below are guidelines to help ensure the success of a

business process reengineering initiative.

Business process analysis and reengineering begins with planning and activities that

include the creation of a project team and project sponsorship. It is critical to have project

participants from administration, operations, and information technology working as a

team towards a common goal. While team composition can vary based on a best match

for an institution’s culture and organizational structure, the team should include a person

or people who fit the following roles (McDonald, 2010):

Process manager

Process owner

Process users

Skeptics

Facilitator

Technology expert

A starting point for all business process analyses is to ask why a specific process is being

used. A key consideration is whether the process is tied to any state, federal or other

regulation or internal policy that mandates the process to be performed in a particular

way. Further analysis should map how that process moves through the institution. For

example, with document retention practices, many institutions discover they have a

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difficult time parting with various forms, even though the data contained on the form has

been processed in the student information system. Institutions often cite both external and

internal requirements for retaining the documents. The reality is that few state regulations

or professional association guidelines require institutions to keep many documents, and

perhaps none at all, once they have been processed. Often internal practice is based on

assumptions of requirements that are no longer are in effect.

Management is an art and some extent a technology, as it is means by which the

desired goals of an enterprise are achieved. Management functions in an organization

include planning, organizing, staffing, motivating, and controlling activities of the

organization. It is art of carrying on business. It involves directing and controlling an

organization and steering it toward achieving its objectives. The term of management

technology implies technology used to manage organizations or certain functions.

Management of technology is an interdisciplinary field that integrates science,

engineering, and management knowledge and practices. Technological changes in the

twentieth century have significantly influences employment patterns and social change.

The rapid change in technology combined with consumers’ particular needs and

demands. Such luxury has fortunately become affordable because of advances in

technology. The process of technology innovation is a complex set of activities that

affected to the business activity.

TECHNOLOGY

Technology is about application of tools, methods and techniques to improve production

and processes. Nothing is as obvious as technology, whether in households or Businesses.

The intensity and type of technology use varies depending on the type of economic

activities an enterprise is involved in. There will be no point of analysing every single

technology available in all industries and their applications.

Technology can be defined as all the knowledge, products, processes, tools, methods

and system employed in the creation of goods or in providing services. In simple terms,

technology is the way we do things or is the practical of knowledge, a mean of aiding

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human endeavor. It is common to think of technology in terms of hardware, such as

machines, computers, or slightly advanced electronic gadgets. However, technology

embraces a lot more than just machine. There are several technological entities besides

hardware, including software and human skills or brain ware.

The technologies that exist in a business are the technological assets of that business.

These assets may therefore include hardware, software, brain ware and know-how. They

constitute the collective knowledge and technical capabilities of organization, including

its people, equipment, and systems.

The most important concept for an enterprise to monitor is: Technology life cycle.

For any product or technology there is a finite life, it may be measured in decades or even

centuries but eventually it gets old and something comes along to replace it. It is obvious

with some of today's computer and communication technologies this life cycle is very

short and may be measured in months rather than years.

In the early days of a new technology

In the early days of a new technology there is enormous potential for application. No one

knows quite what to do with it and they may try things which turn out to be impossible.

This phase is characterized by lots of experimenting around the technology and its

applications. People take risks because the stakes are low no one knows quite what the

future will hold, and the markets for the new applications don't exist they are just made

up of people who are interested in the new thing. But gradually these experiments begin

to converge around what they call a 'dominant design' something which begins to set up

the rules of the game. This can apply to products or processes; in both cases the key

characteristics become stabilized and experimentation moves to getting the bugs out and

refining the dominant design.

For example, in the chemical industry we have moved from making soda ash (an essential

ingredient in making soap, glass and a host of other products) from the earliest days

where it was produced by burning vegetable matter through to a sophisticated chemical

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reaction which was carried out on a batch process (the Leblanc process) to the current

generation of continuous processes which use electrolytic techniques and which

originated in Belgium where they were developed by the Solvay brothers. Moving to the

Leblanc process or the Solvay process did not happen overnight; it took decades of work

to refine and improve the process, and to fully understand the chemistry and engineering

required to get consistent high quality and output.

As the technology matures still further so this incremental innovation becomes more

significant and emphasis shifts to factors like cost which means efforts within the

industries which grow up around these product areas tend to focus increasingly on

rationalization, on scale economies and on process innovation to drive out cost and

improve productivity.

Technology assessment

Technology assessment is the study and evaluation of new technologies. It is based on the

conviction that new developments within, and discoveries by, the scientific community

are relevant for the world at large rather than just for the scientific experts themselves,

and that technological progress can never be free of ethical implications. Also,

technology assessment recognizes the fact that scientists normally are not trained ethicists

themselves and accordingly ought to be very careful when passing ethical judgment on

their own, or their colleagues, new findings, projects, or work in progress.

Technology assessment assumes a global perspective and is future oriented rather than

backward-looking or anti-technological.

Scientific research and science

"Scientific research and science based technological innovation is an indispensable

prerequisite of modern life and civilization. There is no alternative.

For six or eight billion people there is no way back to a less sophisticated life

style"(Summer, 1999). Technology assessment considers its task as interdisciplinary

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approach to solving already existing problems and preventing potential damage caused by

the uncritical application and the commercialization of new technologies. Therefore any

results of technology assessment studies must be published, and particular consideration

must be given to communication with political decision makers.

Technology must connect with customer needs to satisfy those needs and achieve

social goals and technology is the engine of economic growth. This statement is

illustrated in the Fig. 1 The spinning out Technology.

Society needs

Market needs

Technology conversion

Technology creation or acquisition

Production

The customer

Standard of living, social and environmental

issues

Figure 1. Spinning out Technology

National competitiveness requires the establishment of a sound economic system, strong

technological capabilities, and the ability to trade with other nations. Creating a national

competitive strategy depends on the harmonious integration of economics, technology,

and trade systems. Industry competitiveness is dependent on the intersection of these

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three major system. The integration of the economic system, technological capabilities

and trade fosters sustainable economic growth is illustrated in the Fig. 2

Technology Capabilities

Economic System Trade

Competitive Enterprises

Sustainable Economic

Growth

Figure 2. Technology and Sustainable Growth

Many new technology concepts have failed because product developers sought to adapt

new product concepts to similar technology rather than the other way around.

Implementation in technological context is generally taken to be concerned with the

issues of developing, applying and utilizing new technologies at the level of enterprise.

The technological improvements based on technological knowledge alone commonly

take place in advance of scientific understanding.

The changes of “technology system” affecting several branches of the economy, as well

as giving rise to entirely new sectors. This system bring the “techno-economic paradigm”

changes in technology system are so far-reaching in their effects that they have major

influence on the behavior of entire economy.

Techno-economic paradigm :

Is technology system, combination of interrelated product and process, technical,

organization and managerial innovations, embodying a quantum jump in potential

productivity for all or most of the economy and profit opportunities

Paradigm change is precisely a radical transformation of the prevail engineering and

managerial for best productivity and most profitable practice in almost any industry.

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To be found of all in the dynamics of relative cost structure of all possible inputs to

production.

LINKING TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS STRATEGIES

Business success depends on the products or services brought to the market.

Organizations that know how to link their technology strategy will be more competitive

in the global market. The first step toward integrating business and technology strategies

is to get the business and technical sides of corporate management to agree on a common

set of priorities. Usually the business side perceives technology is a subset of business,

while technologies perceives business as a subset of the general technological ascent of

human being, as shown in the Fig. 3. On the other side, technology is a subset of business

enterprise. Market demographics influence the success of the business. Therefore,

business tend to identify technologies relevant to creating business opportunities that

satisfy market demands. On the other side, technology, through its role in the ascent of

human beings, is the influencing factor in creating business, and business becomes a

subset of technological advances that create significant opportunities for companies. For

optimal results both sides must be integrated into one organizational strategy. In

conclusion that integrating technology strategy and business strategy can be thought of

two sides of coin, while either side is worthless without the other.

Companies that have a one-eye view toward business-oriented function, such as

finance, accounting, marketing, and sales, may face technical obsolescence or miss out on

potential growth and profitability. Similarly, companies that focus entirely on

technological development without effective strategy for exploiting the technology in the

timely manner may not be able to sustain profitability. Management must be able to align

its technology and business strategies to focus on achieving its goals and objectives.

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Market Opportunity Core demographics technology Business view of Technology view of Technology business

Figure 3. Framework for formulation of business and technology strategies Source : Mitchell, 1992

According to Mitchell (1992), the technical community tends to hold the view that

technical achievements by peers around the world often provide a more reliable to the

future than do formally documented business forecast. The business-planning community

usually looks at markets and other external trends as a more obvious and direct source of

business opportunity. These two perspectives need to be reconciled. The importance of

the linkage between the goals and objectives of the corporation and its technological

strategy in the broad consensus and understanding must exist between business and

technical managers throughout a company.

Number of question should be consider are :

To what extent is technology relevant to business ?

Which business strategies require technology ?

Where will we get the technology ?

What are our core technologies for the business ?

In which technologies should we focus our research effort ?

What new strategies options will technologies provide ?

Business Technology “Ascent of man”

Technology Business

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In responding these questions, a company can develop relationships among its

high-level strategies, its lines of business, and the technologies that are needed to achieve

business goals. To answered the strategic questions some consideration as following as:

Most formal strategic planning processes start with a common series of

analyses that deal with the primary factors affecting the business. Typically,

studies of the external environment, including customer, market and other

trends, identify potential opportunities. To the extent that technology is a

critical element in the environment, a key attribute of major competitors, or a

strategic strength or weakness of business entity being examined, it should

emerge naturally from these analyses.

It is clearly stated that numerical goals are unambiguously and uniquely aligned

with strategies and implementation plans, making identification of needed

technology relatively trivial. In practice, overall business objectives and

strategies are often written broadly, and typically aspirations for growth, new

markets and revenues must be further specified by plans formulated. The same

is usually true goals for cost, quality, productivity, and customer support.

There are in general three different sources of technology available to business

operations within large corporations: within the business operation; from the

corporate or other company laboratories; from outside the corporation. Strategic

planning for technology takes a qualitative advance at this stage, when it

becomes apparent that the range technical strategies open to the cooperation

depends directly on the state of technical knowledge in-house.

The choice of core technologies can be critical in determining precisely how the

business will be able to compete. The most direct way to identify core

technologies is by asking technical staff is operations to determine which

internal skills and disciplines are essential to the growth strengthened technical

capability leads to improved business performance. Particular emphasis should

be given to those areas where called key and pacing technologies.

Having identified which technologies the corporation needs, we may rationally

approach the determination of strategy for corporate laboratories by asking, “In

which few technical areas shall we focus our research effort?” These core areas

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maybe chosen to complement, extend, or lead technical activity in operations,

but must contain sufficient resources to explore and develop new technology to

the point where it can be picked up by business operations for commercial

exploitation.

If the strategic area is well chosen, it will not only support the stated strategy of

business operations, but will, in addition, result in a continuous stream of

benefits to the corporation, from applications only dimly perceived at the

outset. It may even provide opportunities to extend or change existing business

strategies. Positioning the laboratories strategically in appropriate core

technologies requires considerable management skill and judgment. Choosing

the right areas to establish technical excellence implicitly opens up future

business opportunities. There are two fundamental problems in making the case

for strategic positioning. The first concerns the language used to communicate

the purpose of the work to senior management and the second problem

concerns appropriate financial justification.

Technology Strategy

Linking technology and business stratgies is a demanding task that has central importance

is strategy formation. Technology is a critical source to achieve and sustain competitive

advantage, the ability to incorporate technology into a business strategy can make the

difference between a winning or a losing stategic alternative. The role of technology has

become so pervasive in the business world that it is appropriate to say there is hardly any

significant industry that can be classified as low-technology. In fact, technological forces

are resructuring industries and defining new ways to compete. Managers are confronted

with the demanding task of accelerating the speed at which innovations in new products

and processes are translated into profitable commercial ventures.

Though there are many studies that analyze the process and sources of innovation, the

disruptions introduced by new technologies, the concept of core competencies, the

strategic management of technology or human issues related to technology, there is less

documentation on how to develop a startegic plan that integrates technology into business

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strategy of a firm (Hax and Majluf, 1998)). The methodology is consistent with the

strategic planning framework and is further illustrated by applying it to a start-up

company or industry.

The guiding framework for identifying the relevant focuses of analysis in the

development of functional strategy in the value chain. The firm’s activities gouped into

six major areas for strategic functional analysis as follows as :

Financial strategy

Human resources strategy

Technology strategy

Procurement strategy

Manufacture strategy

Marketing strategy

A framework for the development of Technology Strategy :

The formation of technology strategy takes place at all the key hierarchical levels of the

firm: corporate, business, and functional.

First, top managers have decide as part the corporate strategy of the firm, what role is to

be played by technology in advancing the firm’s competitive capabilities, the amount of

resources to be allocated to technology, and the aggresiveness the firm will use in the

innovative processs and imbedding technology into the firm’s products and processes.

Corporate attention is required since frequently a given technology is shared by several

businesses and affects various managerial functions. Therefore, its strategic development

cannot be tottaly decentralized at the business and functional levels. The elements of

corporate strategy that communicate more pointedly to the technological requirements are

mission of the firm --- particularly the statement of unique competencies---and the

corporate strategic thrusts---an expression of the primary issues the firm has to address in

order to establish a strong competitive position.

Secondly, technology strategies are formulated at the business level. During the process

of business strategy formation we need to define the technological support required to

create or reinforce the competitive advantage sustained by each business unit. This is

supplied by mission of the business and their respectives strategic action programs.

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Obviously, a technology strategy cannot be created in isolation from the corporate

objectives and the businesses it is intended to support.

Finally, at the technology level residues the task of interpreting all the requirements

emerging from corporateband business levels, which will become the critical inputs for

shaping the technology strategy of the firm. At this stage it is also necessary to identify

the portfolio of specific technologies the firm will be using in supporting its business

strategies. This leads to the definition of the strateguc technology units (STUs), the

central focus of attention in the development of technology strategy. The STU identifies

the skills or disciplines that are applied to a particular product or process in order to gain

technological advantage. The STUs should contain all the core technologies used now or

needed in the future across the whole organization.

The STUs are critical to the execution of the technology environmental scan and internal

scrutiny, the next taxts in the planning process. The environmental scan is aimed at

obtaining an understanding of the key technology trends, assessing the attractiveness of

each STU, and identifying technological opportunities and threats. This form of analysis

we refer to as technology intelligence. Its purpose is to generate all the relevant

information concerning the current and future state of development of the technology

function. It is not only the existing managerial practice and state of technological

progress that are important to detect.

Business Process Technology

The customer demand translates directly or indirectly into the need to manufacture the

product. Business processes are chains of corporate activities and their network-like

relationship directed at the corporate objects ’product’, ‘order’ and ‘resource’. The

relationship between business processes is like the relationship between customers and

suppliers. The business process is a set of activities designed to yield a result that is of

use to company’s customers.

To make the product we need two distinct elements:

a. Materials and components parts : materials planning systems are concerned

with planning the procurement and availability of these materials in a way that reconciles

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the potentially conflicting requirements of end-customer demand and the necessity of

organizing the flow materials to minimize or optimize the investment in inventories

b. Manufacturing or assembly capacity : production capacity is means of

concerting the materials into intermediate component part or the end product. This

involves balancing workload and capacity, and is no use if the necessary materials are not

available. This should be have the whole manufacturing planning system, which therefore

includes the materials planning system.

Several variables of overall manufacturing environment:

Whether to make to stock or to make to order

Whether or not demand forecasting is needed to supplement firm customer

orders through the planning horizon

Whether components are sources in-plant, in-company, or externally;

Whether the end product is shipped to third parties or whether it is for

consumption within a finished product in other factories or departments

within the organization.

Among the major variables we should noted:

The manufacturing process may produce one product, or it may produce

many products

The product technology may simple or it may be complex

The products may be standard products, they may be original equipment

manufacturer products tailored to customer specification, or they may be

specifically manufactured to customer specification

The products may be produced in volume, or small to medium-sized

batches, or they may be unique one-off products

The manufacturing resource may be organized in different ways or as a

collection of process-related work centers through which work may pass

in many different sequences depending upon individual product structures.

Within the major resource centre the nature of the work associated with

different products maybe similar or homogenous, or it may differ widely

from one product specification to another.

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THE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

It is part and parcel of the much wider strategic planning process for the entire

business. The manufacturing operation exists to satisfy customer demand. Correctly

planned and operated, it will be a major contributor to customer satisfaction or delight. A

workable guide to the strategic planning process, with emphasis on the manufacturing

operation, as follows as “

1. Profiles of market requirements and achieved performance

2. Basic information by product family

3. Competitive edge by product family

4. Current performance by product family

5. External opportunities and threats

6. Assessment of the current manufacturing strategy

7. Identifying policy area needing change or improvement and identifying possible

strategic options.

Process control management

The major constraints on making the product are:

1. Product technology; the lower level or component parts or materials content of the

end product

2. Process technology; the manufacturing operation involved in converting the

component parts or materials into the end product. This is also the value-adding

process

3. Production capacity.

These are the basics at the heart of manufacturing equation. How they are welded

together by system to address the key variables of manufacturing environment is what

determines whether or not that system has a fit with the manufacturing environment.

To recap, the major divergences are:

Whether the products being manufactured are runners, repeaters or

stranger;

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Whether scheduling is rate-based or order-based, and in the case of order-

based scheduling whether the system is driven by conventional master

schedule or alternative driver;

The degree of customer options or feature dependency in the product

structure;

The presence or absence of finished inventories;

Whether or not a JIT system is in use;

At the other end of spectrum, to what extent the many problem associated

with jobbing shop environment have to be addressed.

The requirements for qualification of processing technology, the process operations or

process diagram should be noted, including monitoring and control of suitable process

parameters and product characteristic, the approval process and equipment, as

appropriate, suitable maintenance of equipment to ensure continuing process capability.

PROCESS ELEMENTS The enormous variety of process technologies from one industry to another, many of the

key elements of manufacturing competitiveness are inherent within the process itself such

as :

technological lead time

process cost

quality loss or process scrap

Minimizing all three is the key to competitive manufacturing strategy, and should form

the objectives against which choices of process technology are evaluated. Most formal

strategic planning processes start with a common series of analyses that deal with the

primary factors affecting the business. Technology is a critical element in the

environment, a key attribute of major competitors, or strategic strength or weakness of

the business.

The concept of actively using a structured process for technology strategy and

management is an important one. The business success and production process

technology by the technical complexity of product and processes itself. Technology

strategy must be a consistent part of overall business strategies. The interaction of

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business and technology strategies as shown in the Figure 5, while the integrating

technology and business strategies as shown in the Figure 6.

Figure 5. Interaction Technology and Business strategy

Source : S. Bhalla, The Effective Management of Technology, Battle

Press, 1987.

Research Strategy

Commercial

Financial

Human Resources

& Organization

Technology

Business Strategy

Technology Strategy

Technology Forecasting

Technology Audit

Technology Monitoring

Technology Diffusion

R & D Planning

Technology Assessment

Engineering &

Manufacturing Technology

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Figure 6. Integrating Technology and business strategies

Source: S. Bhalla, The Effective Management of Technology. Battelle Press, 1987.

The effective adoption of technology requires that knowledge flow from source to

receiver. Technology effectiveness depends on how successfully this process is

implemented. Business decisions for acquisition and exploitation of technology

determine the success of the organization. The technological environment including

executive leadership, technology strategy, organization structure, technology culture, and

people, affective on the business activity.

The executive leadership : technology as a top priority is appreciated and

managed as a key factor in the overall business strategy, involvement

and participation.

Technology strategy : corporate strategy, goals, deployment

Organization structure : organization chart, teamwork

Technology culture and people : culture, learning organization, communication,

management of change, recruiting, training, empowerment, and reward system.

To develop a full understanding of the future business environment that is, the customers,

suppliers, competitors, demand for product, industry financial ratios, and economic

Business Segmentation

(1)

Technology Segmentation

(2)

Strategic Audit

(3)

Strategic Controlling

(11)

Business Environmental

Scan (4)

Technology Environmental

(5)

Impacted Businesses

(6)

Impacted Technologies

(7)

Implementation (10)

Generation of Alternative Strategies

(8)

Selection of Strategies

Resource

Allocation (9)

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trends. At the same time it is also important to develop a similar understanding of

technology environment, including patents, key technologies, centers of research

excellence and capability, levels of funding, the potential for break through, and barriers

to technologies deployment.

Specify Technology Strategy

Specifying for technology development and the use is important because it deals with the

conversion of the information and concept developed into realistic plants and actions as

shown in the Figure 7. In the ASSETS (assess, specify, select, execute, transfer) is

technology strategy, its specifications address the four main elements which support the

firm’s basic business strategy: customers, competitive approach, investments and

organizational culture. The strategy provide guidelines (criteria) for selecting and

implementing specific actions (tactics). This involves the simple act of answering

question such as :

What technologies to develop, license, or buy

Whether to seek technology leadership

How to protect property rights

How to capture economic returns.

Technology strategy must be consistent part of overall business strategies.

The setting of technology strategy is constrained by unique company character and needs, such as

provided by top management.

A critical factor in developing strategy is to evaluate the company’s position with respect

to the competition, however the evaluation of competitive position in the technological

environment is difficult. This can be done by analysis of the competitor and more

specialized approaches such as patent trend analysis.

The technology strategic guidance forms the basis for development of an investment

program including R & D as one of the possible actions.

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Business Objectives Resources

Competitive Position

Figure 7. The ASSETS process

The boxes with circled numbers identify steps in strategy development; the boxes with uncircled

numbers identify steps in strategy implementation

The business environment in processing technology can be summarized as in the outline for

technology plan.

The outline for technology plan for developing processing technology strategy requires

the components :

I. CURRENT STATUS

A. Product performance

B. Technology and market assessment

C. Customers

1. Customer health

2. Future outlook

Specify Technology

Strategy

(2)

Assess Current Situation

(1) Select Technology

Portfolio

(3) Execute Technology Investment

Transfer Result for

Deployment

(4) (5)

Secure Long – Term

Positions

(6)

Company Strengths

Market Needs

Approaches Criteria

Organizational Systems

Plans

Projects

Results

Trends

Concepts

Adjustments Operational

Assets

External Environment

Business Environment

Application Targets

Returns and

Impacts

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3. Current and future needs

D. Competitive analysis

E. Technological strengths and weaknesses

F. Existing, key and emerging technologies

II. FUTURE EXPECTATIONS

A. Technology environment

B. Product and Process trends

C. Competition potential

D. Capabilities needed

E. Problems and opportunities created

III. BASIC TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIES

A. Improvements in the technological base

B. New technology acquisition targets

C. Technical deployment risk

D. Application timing

IV. LONG-TERM RESOURCES NEEDED

A. Capital and financial investments

B. Resource allocation guidelines

V. MEASURES OF SUCCESS

A. Quantitative

B. Qualitative

C. Milestone and go/no-go decisions

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Lessons from Operation Management. International Journal of Operations &

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Banks, J., Carson, J.S.I., Nelson, B.L., and Nicol, D.M. (2000) Discrete-Event System

Simulation 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ.: Prentice-Hall.

Childe, S.J., Bennett, and Maul, J. 1994. Frameworks for Understanding Business

Process Re-Engineering. International Journal of Operations & Production

Management, 14 (12),pp. 22-34.

Davenport, T.H. 1993. Process Innovation. Reengineering Work through Information

Technology Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press

Hax, A. C., and Majluf, N. S. 1996. The Strategy Concept and Process; A

pragmatic approach. Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Khalil, Tarek M. 2000. Management of Technology; The key to competitiveness

and wealth creation. MCGraw-Hill Co., New York.

Mertin, Kai, and Jochem, R. 1999. Quality-Oriented Design of Business

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