Managing Technology.

Q1. a. Explain briefly about Managing technology.

Answer - Managing technology involves concepts like new venture, innovation, and research and R&D infrastructure. We can say that technology is the useful tool which controls the environment and also acts as an instrument which converts the natural resources in to useful goods. This is the main factor which affects the growth of an organization. & that’s why managing technology is essential for any organization.
Some issues related to the Managing technologies described below * Technology and long-term cycles:
There are some economists who argue that technology affects growth and recession in the world economy. The infrastructure is useful for maturation of the technologies. When the downturn starts to come up again then organizations has to invest the capital equipment that is based on the new technologies. * Technology and comparative advantage:
At the national level, the firms will have more value when it has both the comparative advantage and also the technological lead. All the other companies from the world look for your organization. There are some of the emerging technologies that have to be dealt when you are discussing about managing technology. The emerging technologies are the new technologies that are sometime considered critical for humanity’s future. b. Explain any two alternatives for acquiring new technologies.
We are presently living in the competitive world. The organizations have to use the advanced technologies to remain in competitive market of today, for long. The technology managers have less time, fewer resources and more problems for the implementation of the technology. There are many alternatives for acquiring the internal and external technologies. Some of these mentioned are the best * Develop technology in-house:
This involves development of the technology within the house. In this, the company has to make an estimate of the financial costs that are associated with the Research and Development (R&D) and the cost of the opportunities that are associated with R&D. This also assesses the suitability of the employees for the new project * Enter into joint ventures:
We know that many of the companies share the costs of the new technology; in the same way, the benefits are also shared. The membership of the research gets more attraction when the risks are high and the costs are heavy. There will be existence of very good relationship between the key supplier and the major customer.

Q2. a. Explain in brief about the six phases in technology forecasting process.

Answer- According to our working definitions, the main function of the technology is “to lead the decision making process towards profitable solutions with minimum uncertainties”
Six phases of technology forecasting are * Identification of needs: After identifying the expected outputs and the objectives of the future, a thorough analysis is done in order to make sure the relevance of technology forecasting. * Prepare project: In this phase, the forecasting activities that are planned and resources are allocated. The roles of each human resource are carefully prepared and explained.. * Define objectives: This phase once again goes through the objectives that are defined in the first and second phases. This phase decides the dimensions of the forecast. * Perform analysis and develop Technology Forecast (TF): This is the central part of the present research. In this phase, we start with defining the boundaries of the technological system that has to be forecasted. * Validate results: in these steps forecasting process is to validate results. This includes the customer satisfaction with the results of TF. * Application of TF: The last phase in the technological forecast is the application of TF·. This depends mainly on the needs and the formulated objectives. b. What are the benefits of technology absorption?
The benefits that we get from technology absorption exercises, as evidenced by Government and industry experiences are * Repeated collaborations for the same product/ process are avoided. * Acquisition of further technologies becomes selective. * Ability is developed to unpackaged the technology * Savings can be affected in foreign exchange due to use of indigenous alternatives. * Effective utilization is made of available indigenous research expertise and facilities to achieve the desired results * Know-why and technology up gradation capabilities are built-up * Technically competent groups of scientists and engineers trained in technology absorption get matured and strengthened * The base for technological self-reliance is enhanced. We gain the benefits of technology diffusion, ranging from R&D services to the larger sales. * Industry should attempt to obtain best available technology closest to international trends and provide R&D at the stage of project planning. * Speedy indigenization of raw materials and components * Efforts for unpack aging and indigenization of tailor-made equipment in the acquired technology * Enhancing exports of products based on absorbed and upgraded technology. * use of national and international research facilities and expertise * Involving users, suppliers of components and materials, research organizations in undertaking absorption exercises. Q3. Explain in brief about the innovation management.
Answer- We can define ‘innovation management’ as the systematic processes that help the organizations in developing new and improved products, services and business processes. This involves the use of creative ideas of an organization employee that brings new innovations to the market place, quickly and efficiently.
In business, innovation should not be only limited to the big ground breaking ideas, creative workshops and product based companies. Innovation is often small, incremental changes to products, services and processes. The innovation involves all the managers from different departments. This needs to be planned and managed as a core business covering all parts of a business. This needs to be integrated at the strategic and operational levels. The activities of the innovation need to be driven by the strategy and current business imperatives.
The successful innovation culture consists of all the aspects of a business, and these aspects have to be managed effectively and efficiently like any other core business.
Innovation can be built into business, at three levels. The three levels are the annual business planning process, quarterly innovation and day-to-day activities. Innovation is managed through some sort of platform or application. There are two types of innovation tools that are, an electronic suggestion scheme, and a management system controlling the innovation process.
The management of the innovation system needs to be given to the senior management to control the overall system of innovation. The best practices and tools are applied consistently and appropriately across the organization. Any platform should encourage for the learning activity as a core feature. Installing the innovation culture in any of the company has leaders and teams with ability and commitment. In order to create culture of continuous innovation, the organization requires leadership and commitment from the senior management team. The management team also sees that some staff members in the organization are rewarded for the innovative ideas they put in. The senior management needs to encourage the innovative ideas from the staff.
Q4. Explain the implementation of new technology.
Answer- Sound planning is essential for the success of any technology’s implementation. The failures that are likely to arise during the implementation process may be due to the poor planning or inadequate resources. Valuing the conflicts will facilitate the organization to keep away from these problems, and for the management, to anticipate the likely trouble spots and ease it accordingly.
There are a number of less-substantial activities, which are critical and people those are involved must: 1.Have an understanding of the organization predominantly, in terms of its traditions and principles are essential.2.The underlying principle of any new system implementation should be able to provide all the better services to all concerned through it. 3. This information has to be conversed to all concerned parties.4.A complete review of every business processes and, where required, academic practice, and developing and introducing new policies before tuning the system to meet the decided requirements should be undertaken. 5. The complete approval of the difficulty and flexibility of the system should be determined. 6. The inbuilt dangers of customization of any software should be understood. 7. A thorough system test procedures should be conducted, while accepting the likely need for software malfunction and improvements. 8. The training and development to be conducted for the internal staff should be planned in advance.9.The users must be trained, to use the system.
Planning and implementation: A thorough plan with efficient management is necessary for success, and to work against the fear of high costs, extended time, losing key persons and common disappointment with the result
Considerations for implementation
· Be aggressive: An important consideration when implementing a new technology is to be aggressive to set up a strong competitive edge
· Be cautious: If the new chosen technology provides revenue to your business, then it is necessary to be careful while making any major modifications in the new technology.
· Be quick: It is important for you to be quick enough to implement the small changes to your chosen technology and to supervise their impact.
· Be slow: If major changes affect your business, it is vital to make the implementation changes slowly.
· Be safe: During the implementation of a new technology, the better time to address the potential security needs is at the time of design and development. It is better to employ a security expert who will take care of the privacy of the organization.
Q5. Briefly describe technological development options and strategies
Answer- A country’s technology development strategy is determined by identifying the technological needs with potential technological developments in the world and a thorough assessment of available and emerging technologies. Then, the country determines a strategy to import technologies which can be produced locally. Now, there is a universal realization that unless a concerted attempt is made to build local technological capabilities for absorbing imported technologies, any attempt to develop indigenous technologies encounters enormous difficulties. Even with regard to imported technology, it is essential for a country to be able to select, digest, adapt and improve it for local consumption. All of these efforts justify greater priority and allocation of resources to R&D. A requirement for efficient utilization of R&D resources is the development of technological infrastructure within the country, including institution building, manpower development, and provision of support facilities and creation of a modern environment Whether or not an organization would generate or develop its own technology and with what intensity it would follow, the efforts in this respect would depend upon technology strategy it has planned or adopted. Though the term strategy is commonly used as an antonym of tactics it actually implies long-term, purposeful and interconnected efforts. Technology Strategy" may accordingly be defined as a strategy to deal with the technology and related issues at macro and micro levels, with respect to set objectives.
Let us have a quick overview of types of technology strategies
Macro-level strategy- At macro level, each country outlines and adopts a technology strategy to achieve its political, economic and social objectives and translates the same into action through appropriate policies and mechanisms.
Micro-level strategy-The extraordinary range and potential uses of contemporary technology have important consequences for industrial and commercial firms. The industrial and organizational disorder produced by technological change, and increased international competitive pressures provide threats and opportunities for firms. An effective strategic approach to technology allows firms to cope better with these changes, and reduces the threats and insecurities facing them and their employees.

The basic role of technology strategy in business planning is to help ask the questions like: what business the corporation plans to be in and how it should be positioned? Effective planning identifies the present decisions required to create desirable and competitive corporate futures. In particular, technology strategy must anticipate the transient impact of technological innovation on the future competencies of the corporation.

Q6. Explain Technology Development
Answer- Though, broadly speaking, the D· of R&D covers Technology Development the latter has much wider implication.
Process- The various stages of technology development process or life cycle is starting from the generation of ideas in the R&D department. We may observe that this process is tedious and requires top management commitment and support from outside. Risk factor is large and the success rate depends upon the quality of inputs provided to the R&D department.
Technology Development Approaches
The approaches of technology development- * In-house R&D: Technology development activities are generally carried out through setting up of separate in-house R&D units within the business, managed and headed by a well-qualified and experienced chief, directly reporting to the top management. However, this unit has close interactions with other departments within the company and there could even be exchange of personnel among different departments. * Co-operative R&D: A group of companies in a particular industrial sector promotes an R&D centre as a society or a non-profit making company. The R&D is funded by the participating companies and the government. This R&D centre undertakes R&D as per the requirements of the companies in their larger interest, and sets up expertise and facilities of common nature and which are usually expensive. * Contract research: A company may contract components of technology development to suitable R&D organizations, academic institutions, or consultants or experts. The in-house R&D unit may coordinate the progress of the activities, to develop the desired technologies. This approach usually requires considerable internal technological and managerial capabilities coupled with strong Science and Technology (S&T) information base. * R&D collaboration: A company may collaborate with another company in areas of common interest, if costs of development are high. Such inter-firm collaborative R&D efforts are becoming common in developed countries mainly due to high costs and shorter technology life cycles. It is found in areas such as micro-electronics, materials, and information technologies. * Research societies: Large corporations or industrial houses may set up independent research societies, in addition to their in-house R&D units. Such societies may undertake R&D activities mostly relating to the broad interests of the promoting companies in line with the national interests.
Research companies: Large firms of technology innovative industrialists may support research companies, specifically for conducting research and development of technologies for others on commercial basis. The development costs and reasonable profits are recovered from the sale and transfer of technologies.