Technology, Strategy and Entrepreneurship

Summary

Greater product and technology complexity and increased internationalization of innovation activities have increased costs and risks for innovators such that the boundaries of the firms have changed and are changing.

Specifically, we explain the 'typical' patterns of technological innovation in order to provide a foundation for the formulation of a technology strategy. Furthermore, we focus on identifying the reasons why most industries adopt a dominant design and why a particular firms' technology is adopted as the dominant design. We will examine the factors that affect the outcome of standards battles. These include e.g. timing of entry strategies, collaboration strategies, and appropriability strategies.

We will provide a basic background of entrepreneurship. Specifically, we will pay attention to networking strategies for new firms (entrepreneurs). How do these firms attempt to achieve success with their new technology, in a new market? As the boundaries of the firms are getting more transparent due to greater complexity of technical projects, it is required to decide whether to collaborate with external partners, and with whom. This can be a good option for entrepreneurial firms as they lack the necessary complementary assets to successfully commercialize a new technology. We will explore collaboration strategies for entrepreneurial firms.

Technological innovation is a much more uncertain activity for a firm than other activities. Strategic thinking and formulation require knowledge on the boundaries of the firm and the markets in which the firm operates, its value chain and its core competencies. Also, strategy formulation aims at controlling the external environment of the firm, which is characterized by uncertainties. A distinction can be made in changes in the external environment in time or by location. General Purpose Technologies affect strategy formulation in time and frugal or inclusive innovations by location. After formulating the sources and innovation strategies we will pay attention to the resources firms have for innovation processes and specific valuation techniques, like real options, conjoint analysis and data envelopment analysis.