Management of Technology and Innovation

In the global economy that we are witnessing, companies feel the need to enhance their capacity for technology development and innovation, thereby, enabling the continuous creation of additional customer value. The methodology of management of technology and innovation becomes useful in understanding the objectives of organizations to bring advances in technology in the most productive manner to offer more competitive products and services, with the given availability of resources. From the class readings and cases, the methodology of management of technology and innovation can be visualized at three different levels. The levels mean the ‘perspectives’ that provide the best meaning to some of the practices and approaches adopted by organizations to manage the technology/innovation cycle. From the class takeaways these 3 perspectives are:

1. Strategy

2. Structure

3. Culture

The strategy, structure and culture of an organization have a huge role in deciding the path adopted by the organization towards building the technology/innovation management system. A flowchart can enhance our understanding in this direction.

The above flowchart explains the different elements of strategy, structure and culture of an organization that can shape up the system of technology/innovation development. The elements give the shape and meaning to the organization’s overall objectives of attaining a milestone. The overall objective can be rested upon elements from a single perspective, for instance just strategy or can involve a combination of elements from two/three different perspectives. The flowchart provides a helicopter view of the different aspects that were learnt in the class through the class readings and case studies.

Below are