« Bizarro feature of the night |
Main
| Blog News »
March 14, 2005
Management of technological innovation
In preparing a study guide for this subject, I've come across a few rather interesting paradoxes of technological innovation management. Here's just one of these.
First of all, some parameters for this discussion are necessary.
If we agree that "innovation" is the successful application of creative problem solving and creative thinking within an organisation (often for commercial benefit), and if we accept that innovation applies to business processes as well as improvement in products (goods and services), then technological innovation should be technological solutions, or processes that rely on technology, and management of technological innovation should be about the strategic and administrative concerns associated with ensuring continuous improvement of technological innovation. Okay?
As has been noted in several academic papers, management of technological innovation will be to the early 21st century, what total quality management and quality assurance was in the 1970s to the 1990s. Ensuring that organisations continue to innovate, and that continuous improvements in efficiencies can be achieved through technology investments, are heady goals for firms, but they are necessary in order to ensure sustainability, and to capture and maintain competitive advantage. Still with me?
Trouble is that technology has often been found to be a limiting factor in organisational innovation, and that most organisational investment in technology produces much less than the total potential benefits any technology solution could provide for a firm. Capiche?
So while there is a potential to gain much higher efficiencies in normal business activities from a technology solution implemented by an organisation, the technology itself might actually limit the innovation that an organisation may achieve.
Moral to this story? If you're going to sustain innovation within an organisation, make sure you keep reviewing and, where necessary, replacing your technology to ensure you avoid "lock in" to the limited functions of the technology solution. This means you will probably never be able to get maximum efficiency from any technology solution investment. Sorry.
Posted by jj at March 14, 2005 11:29 AM
Comments. Please PREVIEW your comment before submitting. This helps the server to save your entry.
I guess it all depends on whether the company perceives technology as an 'enabler' of thier business, or a product of thier business.
Certainly technologies have a shelf life - they often become obsolete, or demand/desire for an alternative overcomes the need to retain the current. As a company experiences staff churn, it is also likely that conservatism shifts out the door.
However, some technologies can remain under the company's accepted implementation for over twenty years without change. Why ? Because they work. Are they a sustainable competitive advantage ? Perhaps. But they work. Technological innovation may in fact be rampant in such a company because process improvements are being made continuously, making maximum use of the resources that still do the job. Producing to capacity may actually be a business objective, where technological innovation provides increased cost efficiencies, not productivity.
Electronic systems and software may also undergo regular advancement for the purposes of greater integration and increased capability, but core components may not necessarily change over a ten year period.
What am I trying to say ? .....
Not all technological innovation suffers from a short shelf life, in a company that demonstrates a healthy bent on managing technological innovation. It may depend on the policies imposed for tech refresh when changes are first implemented. Especially when the initial investment is large. The company may intend to realise the value of the changes before reviewing the technologies employed.
My 2 cents (R&D Engineer)
Jo, thought you might be interested in this article
http://www.entrepreneur.com/ext/article/0,4621,319353,00.html
Cheers,
Rob
Posted by: Rob at March 14, 2005 4:08 PM
Thanks Rob - great post and great article! Much appreciated :-)
Posted by: jj at March 14, 2005 5:11 PM
Post a comment
Please PREVIEW posts before submitting. This helps my host server to save your comments.