Centre for Technology Management

Managing technology and knowledge across organisational interfaces

Clare Farrukh & David Probert

Centre for Technology Management, Institute for Manufacturing,

University of Cambridge Engineering Department, Cambridge CB2 1RX

ABSTRACT

A major challenge in the rapid acquisition and effective deployment of technology for business benefit is the management of technology across organisational interfaces. Symptoms of this problem include well-documented failures of technology transfer, mergers and acquisitions and in the introduction of new products, all of which involve multiple interfaces. These interfaces or boundaries may be within the firm, for example between business units or functions such as R&D, engineering, production and marketing, or between business processes or other organisational elements. Equally, the organisational boundaries may be between firms as in the case of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and subcontracting. It is accepted that such interfaces cannot all be removed and thus need to be managed creatively. The focus of this exploratory research is therefore on identifying and characterising the interfaces of the firm where key problems often occur in activities such as technology insertion, new product development, systems integration, strategy and planning.

The paper will report the initial investigation of such interfaces and discuss it contribution to three research questions:

• How can organizational interfaces be identified and characterised?
• What are the key interfaces in managing technology within the firm?
• What are the implications for managing technology more effectively?