Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2005. / Also available online.

Innovation is today at the centre of competition in most industries. As a stylized fact, an important channel through which engage in non-price competition is research and development (R&D), whose primary outcome is pure innovation. Firms carry out both product and process innovation, but the bearings of these two factors on R&D efforts have been investigated separately. Most of the rather large theoretical literature on R&D has focused upon process innovation, while product innovation has drawn particular attention in empirical studies. Recently, two different streams of research have emerged: one has contributed to the analysis of complementarities within R&D portfolios in monopoly or oligopoly models; the other has described the dynamics of adoption of product and process innovation and is commonly known as “technology life cycle” of the product. The aim of the present book is to bridge the two aforementioned streams of research by combining the theory of supermodular games and the theory of differential games. Starting from simple static monopoly models where we show that process and product innovation are complementary, we arrive at more complex dynamic oligopoly games where the presence of complementarity becomes an inherent feature of dynamic optimization. In particular, we investigate the technology life cycle and the issue of strategic interaction in differential games. Moreover, we study financial contracting in presence of complementary investment activities and different aspects that characterize advertising efforts. / L'innovation est aujourd'hui au centre de la concurrence dans la plupart des industries. Il est à noter qu'un canal important par lequel les entreprises s'engagent en concurrence non-prix est la recherche et développement (R&D), dont le résultat premier est la innovation pure. Les entreprises investissent dans l'innovation de processus et dans l'innovation de produit, mais l'étude de ces deux facteurs concernant la R&D a été fait séparément. La majeure partie de l'ample littérature sur la R&D s'est focalisée sur l'innovation de processus, tandis que l'innovation de produit a reçu une attention particulière dans les études empiriques. Récemment, deux différents domaines de recherche ont émergé: l'un a contribué à l'analyse des complémentarités dans les portefeuilles de R&D en modèles de monopole ou d'oligopole; l'autre a décrit la dynamique de l'adoption du produit et de l'innovation de processus et il est généralement connu comme “cycle de vie technologique” du produit. Le but du livre actuel est d'établir un lien entre les deux domaines de recherche mentionnés ci-dessus en combinant la théorie des jeux supermodulaires et la théorie des jeux différentiels. À partir d'un modèle simple de monopole statique où nous prouvons que l'innovation de processus et l'innovation de produit sont complémentaires, nous arrivons à des jeux d'oligopole dynamiques plus complexes où la présence de la complémentarité devient une caractéristique inhérente d'optimisation dynamique. En particulier, nous étudions le cycle de vie technologique du produit et la question de l'interaction stratégique dans les jeux différentiels. Nous étudions aussi la contratation financière en présence d'activités complémentaires et les différents aspects qui caractérisent l'investissement en publicité.

Given the context of globalization and growing competition, we assist at a reduction of the product life cycle and at a rapid diffusion of creations and innovations. To respond to the fast changing customers’ demand and to reinforce their market position, firms shall design an effective creative process offering superior customer value and insuring their future in the long term. First of all, after an explanation of the differences between creativity and innovation, the creative process of high-tech firms in terms of actors involved, resources allocation, leadership and management of creative people will be depicted. Secondly, the creative destruction process and some of the inherent obstacles and risks of the creative process will be addressed. Thirdly, the concepts of Technology Life Cycle (TLC) and Product Life Cycle (PLC) will be developed. Within this thesis, our ideas are presented and justified through three methodologies: Literature Review, case study and interview. We mainly used the cases of Hewlett-Packard (HP) and France Telecom Orange (FTO) to backup our argumentation. We conceptualized the creative process and we highlighted the connections between the creative process and the Product Life Cycle. With the help of two other small cases study (Nintendo and Apple), we emphasized the downward trend of high-tech products’ lifecycle in the long run. Ultimately, four practical recommendations are given to leaders from high-tech industries and directions to deeper research this topic are advised.

<p>Given the context of globalization and growing competition, we assist at a reduction of the product life cycle and at a rapid diffusion of creations and innovations. To respond to the fast changing customers’ demand and to reinforce their market position, firms shall design an effective creative process offering superior customer value and insuring their future in the long term.</p><p>First of all, after an explanation of the differences between creativity and innovation, the creative process of high-tech firms in terms of actors involved, resources allocation, leadership and management of creative people will be depicted. Secondly, the creative destruction process and some of the inherent obstacles and risks of the creative process will be addressed. Thirdly, the concepts of Technology Life Cycle (TLC) and Product Life Cycle (PLC) will be developed.</p><p>Within this thesis, our ideas are presented and justified through three methodologies: Literature Review, case study and interview. We mainly used the cases of Hewlett-Packard (HP) and France Telecom Orange (FTO) to backup our argumentation.</p><p>We conceptualized the creative process and we highlighted the connections between the creative process and the Product Life Cycle. With the help of two other small cases study (Nintendo and Apple), we emphasized the downward trend of high-tech products’ lifecycle in the long run. Ultimately, four practical recommendations are given to leaders from high-tech industries and directions to deeper research this topic are advised.</p>

No / This paper argues that the technology life cycle literature is confused and incomplete. This literature is first reviewed with consideration of the related concepts of the life cycles for industries and products. By exploring the inter-relationships between these, an integrated view of the technology life cycle is produced. A new conceptualization of the technology life cycle is then proposed. This is represented as a model that incorporates three different levels for technology application, paradigm and generation. The model shows how separate paradigms emerge over time to achieve a given application. It traces the eras of ferment and incremental change and shows how technology generations evolve within these. It also depicts how the eras are separated by the emergence of a dominant design, and how paradigms are replaced at a technological discontinuity. By adopting this structure, the model can demarcate the evolution of technologies at varying levels of granularity from the specific products in which they may be manifest to the industries in which they are exploited. By taking technology as the unit of analysis the model departs from previous work, which has adopted a product-based perspective predominantly. The paper discusses the managerial and research implications associated with the technology life cycle, and indicates how these inform future research directions. As well as contributing to academic knowledge, the results of this research are of value to those who make decisions about the development, exploitation and use of technology including technology developers, engineers, technologists, R & D managers, and designers.

Der Erfolg von Innovationen ist unsicher. Wer Kapital in Innovationen investiert, möchte etwas über die Risiken wissen. Mit diesem Wissen können Fondsmanager von Venture-Capital-Gesellschaften ihre Investitionsentscheidung begründen und die Höhe ihrer Renditeforderung ermitteln. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird untersucht, wie Patente über Investitionsrisiken von Venture-Capital-Beteiligungen informieren. Fondsmanager können die Patente der eigenen Portfoliounternehmen und die Patente der Wettbewerber nutzen, um systematisch Risiken in der Entwicklung ihrer Portfoliounternehmen zu erkennen und zu bewerten. Der Autor definiert und klassifiziert zunächst sowohl Patentdaten als auch Risiken. Er erklärt, wie die relevanten Informationen durch die Verknüpfung von Patentdaten, Risiken und Portfoliounternehmen entstehen und welche Rolle Indikatoren spielen. In der Hauptuntersuchung prüft er, durch welche Patentinformationen sich konkrete Gefahren erkennen lassen und welche Indikatoren sich zu diesem Zweck eignen. Für die Prüfung nutzt er in explorativer Weise die theoriebildende und empirische Literatur bisheriger Patentindikatorenforschung. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass eine Reihe rechtlicher Risiken gut durch Patentinformationen erkennbar ist. Teilweise ist für ihre Bewertung jedoch nach wie vor qualitatives Fachwissen spezialisierter Patentanwälte unumgänglich. Risiken des technologischen Wandels lassen sich nach Meinung des Autors kaum durch Patentinformationen im Voraus erkennen. An einem Beispiel werden die theoretischen und methodischen Schwächen in der Literatur vorherrschender Technologielebenszyklusmodelle verdeutlicht. Wettbewerbsrisiken hingegen können mit Patentinformationen nicht nur gut erkannt werden, sondern die indizierenden Patendaten lassen sich auch statistisch gut erfassen, auswerten und direkt in Scoringmodelle übertragen. Abschließend hinterfragt der Autor kritisch die Zuverlässigkeit und Aussagekraft der Befunde durch grundlegende Klassifizierungsprobleme und gibt Anstöße für weiterführende Forschung auf dem Gebiet der Risiko- und Performancemessung von Venture-Capital-Investments. / The success of innovations is uncertain. People investing capital in innovations would like to know something about their risks. If fund managers of venture capital firms knew these risks, they would be able to justify their investment decisions and to determine the height of their claim for yield. In this thesis, the author examines how patents inform about investment risks of ven-ture capital participations. Fund managers can use those patents of their own portfo-lio companies and the patents of the competitors in order to recognize and evaluate risks systematically in the development of their ventures. First, the author defines and classifies both patent data and risks. He explains how the relevant information arises by linking patent data, risks and venture and he ex-plains the importance of indicators. In the main part of this thesis, he examines by which patent information concrete dangers could be recognized and which indicators are suitable to this purpose. For this examination, he uses theory grounding and em-pirical literature of past patent indicator research in an explorative way. It shows up that a couple of legal risks are well recognizable by patent information. However, in part, the qualitative knowledge of specialized patent lawyers is still needed. According to the author's opinion, risks of technological changes are hardly to recognize by patent information in advance. An example shows the theoretical and methodical weaknesses of the technology life cycle models, predominating in the lit-erature. However, competitive risks can be well recognized by patent information. Furthermore, the indicating patent data can be well seized statistically, evaluated and transferred directly in scoring models, too. Finally, the author discusses the reliability and explanatory power of the results using basic classification problems and gives hints for further research in the area of risk and performance measuring of venture capital investments.

The financial industry is currently undergoing radical change as a result of the increased implementation of digitalisation strategies. Due to pressure from a number of sources, finance firms, including asset managers, are looking to adopt technology solutions in their business processes. Through the introduction of new technologies and digitalisation strategies, the asset managers are hoping to secure their market segments in the future. Choosing which technology to implement is considered one of the most difficult decisions a manager has to make. Hence, this thesis proposes a framework to be used by asset managers in order to efficiently and swiftly evaluate a number of technologies when looking to digitalize manual processes. The largest bank in the Nordic region is Nordea, who have just recently announced that they will be looking to implement more digital solutions. This thesis was conducted in collaboration with Nordea Asset Management. The thesis explores three core areas: the future of the asset management industry, digitalisation strategies, and new technology adoption in order to produce the analytical framework. The framework is constructed using previously explored methods described in literature along with the key information gathered from experts at Nordea Asset Management. The result is a framework which combines expert knowledge of the asset management industry, successful methods regarding conceptual frameworks, technology life cycle and new technology adoption theory and digitalisation strategy concepts. In order for traditional asset managers to maintain their market position they will need to adapt new technologies. This is not only needed for efficiency and cost reasons but also because customers are starting to demand it. The sales channels, operations, personnel requirements and the business model as a whole are areas identified by this research project that will adapt through the introduction of digitalisation strategies being introduced. The framework constructed in this thesis provides the asset management firms with a method of successfully applying digitalisation strategies through new technology adoption. / Finansindustrin genomgår just nu radikala förändringar på grund av att digitaliseringsstrategier implementeras. Efter påtryckning från en rad olika håll, känner sig finansbolag, som inkluderar kapitalförvaltningsbolag, tvungna att implementera nya tekniska lösningar i sin verksamhet. Genom att adoptera nya tekniker och digitaliseringsstrategier hoppas kapitalförvaltare på att kunna försäkra sina marknadsandelar i framtiden. Men att välja vilken teknik som ska implementeras är ett av de svåraste beslut en ansvarig måste ta. Alltså, så föreslår detta arbete ett ramverk som kan användas av ett kapitalförvaltningsbolag för att, på ett effektivt och snabbt sätt, kunna evaluera en mängd tekniker när man vill digitalisera manuella processer. Den största banken i den nordiska regionen är Nordea, som just har informerat allmänheten att de kommer att börja implementera digitala strategier. Detta arbete skrevs i samarbete med Nordea Asset Management (NAM). Detta arbete koncentreras på tre centrala områden. Framtiden av kapitalförvaltningsindustrin, digitaliseringsstrategier, samt implementering av nya tekniker för att producera ett analytiskt ramverk. Ramverket är hopsatt genom att använda metoder från tidigare forskning tillsammans med nyckelinformation samlad av experter på NAM. Resultatet blir då ett ramverk som kombinerar expertkunskap från kapitalförvaltningsindustrin, lyckade metoder i relation till konceptuella ramverk, tekniklivscykel och ny teknikimplementationsteorier samt digitaliseringsstrategikoncepter. För att traditionella kapitalförvaltare ska kunna bibehålla sina nuvarande marknadspositioner, kommer de att behöva implementera nya tekniker. Detta behövs inte endast för effektivitet och kostnadsanledningar utan också för att kunden kommer att begära det. De områden som detta arbete har identifierat som kommer att behöva ändras på i och med implementeringen av digitaliseringsstrategier är: säljkanaler, operations, personalbehov och verksamhetsmodell. Ramverket konstruerat i detta arbete, förser kapitalförvaltningsbolag med en metod för att implementera digitaliseringsstrategier på ett effektivt och framgångsrikt sätt.

Abstract The main objective of this study is to observe product development sourcing strategies over technology life-cycle stages, including assessing evaluation conditions and strategy formulating models. This dissertation approaches product development sourcing from the perspectives of 1) main concepts of product development and technology life-cycles, 2) mapping product development activities over technology life-cycles, 3) mapping product development sourcing over technology life-cycles, and 4) a decision making flowchart. The individual findings are further synthesised and a three dimensional view to analyse the strategic positioning of technology, product and market development as a core context of the organisation is presented. This as it is proposed that the product development sourcing strategies should be analysed and decided according to strategic positioning of the technologies, products and markets and based on the related life-cycle phases. Different product development sourcing strategies can increase the competitiveness of the company by effectively managing critical knowledge of the technology and product development resources. The dissertation is qualitative and inductive in nature and is based on both, reviewing the literature and interviewing experienced industrial managers. The empirical material is based on semi-structured interviews with R&amp;D managers and meetings with R&amp;D directors. The study was realised by investigating historical data on product development activities and sourcing strategies of one of the high-tech industry leaders over four technology generations. The technology evolution of all the generations are considered and the collected data is analysed to understand if there are any significant relationships with the literature based findings. The analysis consists of five individual publications and related synthesis in this compilation. The principal results of this study is a product development sourcing framework (PDSF) proposing how product development sourcing strategies could be managed according to technology maturity levels by considering the specific needs and motivations of each prevailing situation. This necessitates the understanding of the characteristics of different technology life-cycle stages, and evaluating product development activities. This study points out how different models can be utilised to support the evaluation. As a result, various factors can be used to support the product development sourcing decisions for each specific situation, whereas strategy formulating theories are also beneficial as a support for these decisions. The main implications include providing a structure, PDSF, to support managers in their decisions on product development activities and sourcing strategies. The created PDSF is an amalgam of seven technology life-cycles that enable cross-functional investigations over each technology with market penetration situation, manufacturing capabilities, product development factors, and sourcing capability factors of all technology products. Aside providing support for selecting suitable product development sourcing strategies, this study may also ease the considerations over killing unproductive projects and unprofitable product lines. / Tiivistelmä Tämä tutkimus tarkastelee tuotekehityksen hankintastrategioita teknologioiden, tuotteiden ja markkinasegmenttien eri elinkaarivaiheissa. Väitöskirja lähestyy tuotekehityksen hankintaa seuraavista näkökulmista: 1) tuotekehityksen ja teknologioiden elinkaarien pääkonseptit, 2) tuotekehitystoiminnat teknologianelinkaarien vaiheissa, 3) tuotekehityksen hankinnat teknologianelinkaaren vaiheissa, ja 4) päätöksenteon vuokaavio. Yksittäiset löydökset on edelleen syntetisoitu ja kolmiulotteinen näkemys teknologioiden, tuotteiden ja markkinoiden kehittymiseen on esitetty keskeisenä kontekstina organisaatioille. Väitöstutkimus esittää että tuotekehityksen hankintastrategiat pitäisi analysoida ja päättää perustuen teknologioiden, tuotteiden ja markkinoiden strategiseen positioon elinkaarivaiheissa. Erilaiset tuotekehityksen hankintastrategiat voivat parantaa yritysten kilpailukykyä teknologioihin ja tuotekehitysresursseihin liittyvän kriittisen tiedon tehokkaan johtamisen ansiosta. Väitöskirja on luonteeltaan laadullista tutkimusta hyödyntäen induktiivista päättelylogiikkaa perustuen sekä aiemman kirjallisuuden tarkasteluun, että empiirisesti puolistrukturoituihin haastatteluihin kokeneiden tuotekehityspäälliköiden ja -johtajien kanssa. Tutkimus toteutettiin tarkastelemalla neljään eri teknologiasukupolveen liittyviä tuotekehityksen ja hankintastrategioiden historiatietoa ja aineistoa yhdessä johtavassa korkeanteknologian yrityksessä. Tarkasteltujen teknologiasukupolvien teknologiaevoluutiota on pohdittu ja kerättyä dataa on analysoitu mahdollisten merkittävien yhteyksien tunnistamiseksi ja ymmärtämiseksi suhteessa aikaisempiin tutkimuksiin ja kirjallisuuteen. Suoritettu analyysi sisältää viisi erillistä osajulkaisua ja tässä kokoomaosassa esitetyn synteesin. Tämän tutkimuksen keskeinen tulos on kehitetty tuotekehityksen hankintaviitekehys (PDSF) joka esittää tuotekehityksen hankintastrategioiden muodostamisen ja valitsemisen perustuen teknologioiden, tuotteiden ja markkinoiden kypsyysasteisiin, elinkaarivaiheisiin. Tämä edellyttää eri teknologiaelinkaarivaiheiden erityispiirteiden ymmärtämistä ja tuotekehitysaktiviteettien strategista arviointia. Tutkittuja strategisia tekijöitä voidaan hyödyntää tukemaan tuotekehityksen hankintamallin valitsemista ja päätöksiä. Tutkimuksen keskeiset implikaatiot sisältävät struktuurin luomisen, tuotekehityksen hankintaviitekehyksen (PDSF) muodossa tukemaan tuotekehitysjohtajia heidän päätöksenteossaan liittyen tuotekehityksen hankintastrategioihin. Luotu tuotekehityksen hankintaviitekehys mahdollistaa poikkiorganisaatiollisen tarkastelun tuotekehityksen strategisista hallintamalleista huomioiden teknologioiden, tuotteiden ja markkinasegmenttien elinkaaret ja niiden vaikutukset strategiseen päätöksen tekoon. Lisäksi, tämä tutkimus voi myös osaltaan helpottaa tuottamattomien tuotteiden ja tuotelinjojen lakkauttamiseen liittyvää analyysia ja päätöksentekoa.

本論文は破壊的イノベーションの微視的・巨視的構造に関する研究だ。クリステンセンによって提唱された破壊的イノベーション理論の基礎を明らかにし、破壊的イノベーション現象の原因と結果を明確に区別する。破壊的イノベーション理論が先行研究で直面した批判に取り組み、イノベーションのジレンマの原因メカニズムに関する問題を浮上する。 / This thesis is a comprehensive study about disruptive innovation, its patterns, and the mechanisms that cause it. This research tests Christensen's disruption theory, the main theory proposed today as an explanation of this phenomenon. In order to do so, this research identifies the strengths and weaknesses of Christensen's theory, and builds upon it to propose an improved theory of disruption that takes into account the differences between the micro and macro perspectives of disruption. / 博士(技術・革新的経営) / Doctor of Philosophy in Technology and Innovative Management / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University