Guidelines on Technology Management by SMEs

Formulation of Technology Strategy

Technology Assessment → Technology Selection → Project Portfolio

By: United Nations International Centre for Science and High Technology (ICS)

 

  

 
 

② Technology Selection

The technology selection aims at identifying the critical technologies which the enterprise should concentrate its interest on, and thus prioritize its investments.

On the basis of the analysis, the importance-strength matrix can be constructed.

The rows of the matrix show the critical technologies identified above.

The columns show a scale from 1 to 5 where the strength in each technology is reported. This mirrors the evaluation of the enterprise's capability in that technology given in the previous step.

In the matrix, the current and desired position of each critical technology is assessed. This provides the basis for formulating the technology strategy, i.e. identifying the effort needed to achieve the desired competitive position. To this end, the technology capability assessment also allows identification of the areas in which a certain technology needs to be improved (equipment, human resources and level of expenses).

  

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The importance-strength matrix also reveals whether a technological leadership strategy (being first on the market, developing new technologies, keeping a position on the leading edge) or a follower strategy (imitate leaders, bring new products on the market later) should be adopted. If in the most important technologies the enterprise appears to be weaker than competitors, a leadership strategy is not viable. However, as the enterprise accumulates resources in a certain technological area and covers the gap with competitors, the situation may change.

 

  

 

 
 

TABLE 4: Importance/strength matrix

Since this is the key matrix according to which decisions are taken, it should be constructed and used by top management with the support of the enterprise's technical managers.

Critical technologies

Strength scale (1-5)

1

2

3

4

5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The output of this stage is the list of priorities in technological actions.

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