Technology strategy is essential in a competitive market
A technology strategy – that is aligned with the corporate mission – can help focus R&D on doing the right things for growth. It can supports the R&D manager to: –
- Make difficult decisions such as how to restructure the department or manage the product portfolio.
- Objectively identify the right technology opportunities and defend from possible technology disrupters.
The different facets involved in creating a technology strategy are covered in our theme.
A strong technology platform provides a competitive advantage for a organisation.
Steve Bone of nu Angle describes how a technology strategy runs in parallel to the business plan in this short video. He uses the example of biofilm management to show how although each business unit might have its own market challenges managing the technology across the whole business can provide economies of scale.
He says: “First, you need to decide what part of the technology you are really good at and to gain an objective view as to whether your lead is sustainable, because you don’t want to risk your core business by spreading your resources too thinly.
“One method of reducing risk is to manage the technology horizontally across the organisation so that all the business units benefit from the investment. This has been described as a ‘technology skewer’ – an approach to technology management that can support growth.”
He explains more in the video
If you are having difficulties watching the video above you can view it on YouTube here.
Articles Relating to Strategy
Innovation for sustainability what is needed to fulfil such a role?
Innovation for sustainability is a way for firms to improve their competitiveness while also facilitating the greater good - but both facilitating and constraining forces are at play for businesses to actually adopt such a role.
Read more
Can frugal innovation make a wave in ‘red oceans’?
'Red oceans' is term coined to describe known market spaces, where to compete industry rivals need to be increasingly cut throat. Frugal innovation has the potential to disrupt these assumptions rewriting many of the rules of marketing.
Read more
Experimenting in the Unknown: Lessons from The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan project, built the first implosion-type fission bomb when much of the necessary information and theory were not available. Studying this project revealed interesting insights and some lessons on how to (and how not to) approach such investigations...
Read more
Breaking the mold – using the power of convergence to accelerate growth – a review
Convergence of technologies creates the opportunity for disruptive business models, Steve Bone reviews an article in Prism which identifies a number of potential scenarios for the chemical industry.
Read more
How 100 innovative companies outperformed the competition
The practices of 100 innovative companies were reviewed in this paper, which looks at how innovation has become a major brand differentiator.
Read more
Approaches to resource-constrained innovation in emerging markets
The economic rise in emerging markets – especially in China and India – has created a new market segment, variously referred to as the ‘middle’ market and sometimes the ‘good-enough’ market. However, there are some misconceptions around the different...
Read more
