Strategic Technology Management b556_FM.qxd 3/28/2008 3:54 PM Page ii This page intentionally left blank Strategic Technology Management Building Bridges between Sciences, Engineering and Business Management (2nd edition) edited by George Tesar Umeå University, Sweden Steven W Anderson University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, USA Sibdas Ghosh Dominican University of California, USA Tom Bramorski University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, USA Imperial College Press ICP Published by Imperial College Press 57 Shelton Street Covent Garden London WC2H 9HE Distributed by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. 5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224 USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT Building Bridges between Sciences, Engineering and Business Management (2nd Edition) Copyright © 2008 by Imperial College Press All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher. For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher. ISBN-13 978-1-86094-874-9 ISBN-10 1-86094-874-X ISBN-13 978-1-86094-926-5 (pbk) ISBN-10 1-86094-926-6 (pbk) Typeset by Stallion Press E-mail: [email protected] Printed in Singapore. PohHoon - Strategic Tech.pmd 1 7/23/2008, 7:10 PM b556_FM.qxd 3/28/2008 3:54 PM Page v This book is dedicated to: my Slunícko, the loving memory of my parents, Virginia and William Anderson, my wife Jayati, daughter Taumoha and son Moyukh Ghosh, and my wife, Loretta, and sons Charles and Michael. b556_FM.qxd 3/28/2008 3:54 PM Page vi This page intentionally left blank b556_FM.qxd 3/28/2008 3:54 PM Page vii Contents Introduction to the Second Edition ix Topic Area 1: Managing the Creative Process in a Cross-Functional Global Environment 1 Case 1: The WINDEX 1200: Aircraft Development 11 Case 2: Anderson Research Institute: Marketing of a New Technology 27 Case 3: Flatplains Robotics International 43 Topic Area 2: Product Concept Development in a Competitive Market Place 59 Case 4: Phytoremediation: A Natural Solution to Environmental Contamination 69 Case 5: Commercialization of Refractory Innovation 93 Case 6: Management Training Issues in Engineering-Driven Companies: The Case of Ultrahone, Inc 109 Case 7: The Rover Project: A Corporate Start-Up Within TechCo 127 Topic Area 3: Business Analysis and Market Potential 155 Case 8: Apple Construction Company: How to Stay Away from Low Bid Customers and Non-Valuable Dyadic Relations 167 Case 9: SSI Technologies (A) 183 Case 10: Lifton Hydra Team 207 Case 11: Eggsercizer — “The World’s Smallest Exercise Machine” 243 Case 12: Decision Support For Stage–Gate Processes 273 vii b556_FM.qxd 3/28/2008 3:54 PM Page viii viii Strategic Technology Management Topic Area 4: Getting a Product from the Laboratory to the Market 285 Case 13: Biosolutions Incorporated: A Company in Search of Financing 295 Case 14: Implementing ISO 22000 Standards to Enhance Safety in Food Supply Chains 315 Case 15: SH a.s.: A Company in Search of its Market Options 333 Case 16: Intuit ProSeries (A) 361 Case 17: Illustrated Items’ Immortal Etchants 385 Topic Area 5: Commercialization of New Technology 391 Case 18: New Product Launch and Marketing Research Findings 401 Case 19: Borono-198: New Product Marketing Strategy 413 Case 20: From Laboratory Bench to Marketplace — The “Chontrol®” Story: A Legacy to Government–Academia–Industry Partnerships 429 Integration of Material 439 List of Websites 449 Index 455 b556_FM.qxd 3/28/2008 3:54 PM Page ix Introduction to the Second Edition In a rapidly changing technological environment where introductions of new product ideas, concepts, and products in our society are ever more increasing phenomenon, it is even more important for scientists, engineers, and business managers to clearly and effectively communi- cate their ideas and expectations. In order to maintain and improve this communication process, we need to educate the next generation of managers to be able to not only communicate clearly and effec- tively, to understand each other’s problems, challenges, and obstacles, but also to work together side by side. This was the overall aim of our first edition. We discovered quickly that besides educating students in sciences, engineering, and business management to begin to understand each other, we were faced with comments and suggestions from practicing scientists, engineers, and business managers that they needed to develop their practices within this framework. Several large corporations found our approach useful in their in-house training programs. We received several comments from the management training programs offered by business schools in North America and in Europe regarding the value of the approach we are using and the importance of some of the cases included in the first edition. We also learned that several major technical universities used the first edition as a text in their senior policy programs; courses were attended by both science and engineering students and business management students. We were pleased with these comments. We also recognized, through book reviews and personal sugges- tions from colleagues who used the first edition, that some cases needed to be updated or changed. This is mainly due to recent changes in scientific and technological developments and in business practices. For the second edition, we have selected cases that reflect these developments. In the process of discussing the changes with our international colleagues, we were told that the first edition has also ix b556_FM.qxd 3/28/2008 3:54 PM Page x x Strategic Technology Management been used in training entrepreneurs interested in introducing their ideas to the market. Many of these entrepreneurs are medical doctors and instrumentation engineers who have more efficient ways of meas- uring certain events related to computerized medicine. The entrepre- neurs found the first edition useful in developing their understanding of moving an idea into the market. Since we introduced the first edition, the emphasis on green or renewable technology has increased dramatically. Areas of biology, chemistry, and ecology started to focus on green and renewable tech- nology with unprecedented rigor. In our own presentations and train- ing sessions, it became obvious that these two aspects of technology will play an important part in almost every field of scientific, engineer- ing and business management in the future. We decided to include cases that partially or fully focus on these developments. It is unfortu- nate that more cases have not been as readily available as we expected. The emphasis on integrating sciences, engineering, and business management is becoming rather international in scope. A number of technical and engineering programs in North America, Europe, Japan, and even Africa are gradually integrating business management concepts into scientific and engineering programs. Even medical pro- grams are introducing more quantitative decision-making in order to introduce more objectivity and the latest scientific knowledge into their practice. Computer modeling as a basis for decision-making is becoming routine in medicine today. These trends in medicine have stimulated a greater need for new computer-based products and serv- ice. An increasing number of specialists will have to be educated and trained to develop the necessary products and services for the medical profession, and also to determine their marketability. We see the second edition of this publication as contributing to this need. We wish to thank all our colleagues for their constructive com- ments, the reviewers who reviewed the first edition and provided us with their constructive comments and occasional criticism of the first edition, and also the anonymous reviewers for their constructive sug- gestions. In addition, we wish to thank our publisher, Imperial College Press and, especially, the editors in charge of our publication for their cooperation, comments, and patience. b556_Case-01.qxd 3/29/2008 4:56 PM Page 1 Topic Area 1 b556_Case-01.qxd 3/29/2008 4:56 PM Page 2 This page intentionally left blank b556_Case-01.qxd 3/29/2008 4:56 PM Page 3 Managing the Creative Process in a Cross-Functional Global Environment In order to be competitive and maintain its market position, firms need to manage more closely their existing products and strategically introduce new products. Since firms today operate in a highly com- petitive market place where they compete with firms that maintain global production capabilities and are faced with increasingly more informed consumers, they need to take a broader perspective con- cerning their innovation efforts, introduction of new technology, increased productivity, and improve the efficiency of their new prod- uct development programs. It is the new product development effort that is becoming an important segment of both technical and mar- keting management. To succeed in rapidly growing and globally com- petitive markets, firms must develop capabilities