International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management

This paper describes the information technology (IT) organization modeling and assessment tool (ITOMAT) and how it can be used for IT governance decision making. The ITOMAT consists of an enterprise architecture metamodel that describes IT organizations. Further, ITOMAT contains a Bayesian network for making predictions on how changes to IT organization models will affect the IT governance performance as perceived by business stakeholders. Thorough case studies at 20 different companies have been conducted in order to calibrate the network. Finally, the paper describes a case study where ITOMAT was used to analyze the future impact of two IT organization change scenarios in a medium-sized engineering company.

This paper shows an analysis of strategic groups in the Spanish pharmaceutical industry. The first results reveal that differences between company performance and strategic groups do not exist. However, taking into account the innovative process in the pharmaceutical industry, when considering the risk-adjusted results we have confirmed the existence of differences among the strategic groups for some of the used indicators. The combination of radical and low-impact innovations, production for third parties, and commercialization under licenses can offer a better performance than other groups focused exclusively in innovation or in specific market segments.

We analyze how Japanese pharmaceutical firms internationalized their research and development (R&D) investments during the 1980 and 1990s. In order to tap into foreign knowledge bases, they heavily invested in setting up R&D centers abroad. However, knowledge transfer, evidenced by international patent applications, was very limited during the early phase of globalization. As a response, Japanese firms have shifted their R&D strategy toward a better organizational integration of their foreign units.

Nowadays most of the organizations tend to outsource their projects. In these cases, two major problems arise: project selection and contractor selection. There are many papers which have argued separately about project and contractor selections. In this paper, we propose a decision support system for selecting projects and related contractors. The proposed approach contains three phases including contractors' prequalification (Phase 1), computing success coefficient of each contractor in projects using fuzzy TOPSIS method (Phase 2), and selecting projects and assigning each project to the most appropriate contractor using a linear programming model (Phase 3). Finally, a numerical example is illustrated to show the application of the proposed method.

The cyclicality, fluctuation, and periodicity of the technology requires the dynamic management of the intellectual property (IP) in enterprises. Unfortunately, companies do not connect the management of their IP to the underlying technology life cycle (TLC), and companies do not change the management of IP in different stages of the TLC. Anyway, most companies use one-size-fits-all method to manage all kinds of IP and different technologies. The purpose of this research is to arouse the attention on TLC characteristics of IP management research in academic and business fields. An IP management model is proposed to deal with the one-size-fits-all issue from the perspective of TLC which manifests the importance of phase characteristics of the technology in IP management. This paper indicates that the IP management strategy should vary with the periods of TLC. Likewise, the results from a case study about Motorola's IP management on global system for mobile (GSM) communications have primarily tested the feasibility and validity of IP management model.

Disruptive technology (DT) is an emerging technology whose arrival in the marketplace signifies the eventual displacement of the existing dominant technology. Identifying and assessing the risks associated with the various phases of a DT process is one of the key challenges a firm developing the technology might encounter. This paper identifies, classifies, and prioritizes a set of possible risks associated with different phases of a DT process. The paper presents ideas that differ from traditional risk assessment for new product development in that DT occurs at a different pace. These results can be used to develop a technology as well as a risk mitigation strategy.

Since previous frameworks and methods for evaluation of national R&D have mainly focused on short-term R&D outputs, long-term R&D outcomes have been neglected so that they have failed to be fully utilized and spread. Thus, it is imperative to mirror long-term R&D outcomes in performance evaluation and utilize them through continuous management and monitoring. In response, this paper presents a model of R&D performance monitoring, evaluation, and management system (RPMEMS) for national R&D. The conceptual model of RPMES is presented with its scope, structure, role, and process. It is based on the logic model used in the planning and evaluation of public programs. This study also proposes two methods for relative comparison in the context of RPMEMS: analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). The proposed model of RPMEMS and methods for relative comparison are expected to be effectively implemented and operated in the practice of management of national R&D.

Green supply chain management (GSCM) comprises of the Manufacturing process that minimizes waste and pollution. It also integrates environmental thinking into supply chain management; from conceptual product design to the delivery of final product to the consumers, and also involves end-of-life management. Many business organizations have implemented GSCM and many more are in the process to put into practice. Its implementation is supported by few factors which are known as GSCM drivers. These drivers could assist in adoption of Green supply chain management. The aim of this paper is to develop a relationship amongst the identified GSC drivers; including management commitments, regulatory pressure etc. This paper is also helpful in understanding mutual influences of drivers, it helps in identifying those drivers which support other drivers as well as those drivers which are most influenced by other drivers (dependent) using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and it classifies these drivers depending upon their driving and dependency on power.

Marketing high-tech products poses challenges to classically trained marketers who may be unfamiliar with a product's underlying science or technology. Often such marketing teams, lacking scientific backgrounds, find it particularly difficult to interface with R&D and truly understand a product's inner workings — something we show to be critical to fully assessing a product for effective differentiation and marketing. By utilizing a novel marketing strategy, the Interdisciplinary Strategic Marketing Framework, we show the need to hire interdisciplinarians — marketers with science backgrounds — to champion marketing teams which are able to overcome the R&D-to-Marketing communicative "brick wall" and delve into a product's technology, such that it can be marketed most effectively, fully assessing all potential science-based and classical aspects of a marketing campaign. Provided within the framework is a strategy for organizing a firm's marketing functionaries (possibly even integrating them into product development), and a system with which the (interdisciplinarian) marketer can efficiently categorize high-tech products, as well as corresponding methodologies which with to approach differentiating and marketing high-tech products. An illustrative consulting case is also included to demonstrate an application of the marketing methodologies.