Centre for Technology Management

Linking Technology to the Market: A Top-Down Appraisal Within a Multi-Business Organisation

R Phaal, CJ Paterson and DR Probert

Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK

DJ Hughes

GEC-Marconi, UK

Abstract

The impact of technology on business organisation and performance is becoming increasingly important for most firms. In parallel, appropriate effort must be directed towards the management of technology in the business context.

A technology management process assessment procedure has been developed, which comprises a selection of integrated tools and techniques. The assessment procedure has been designed to enable a business to:

• Build a common framework for discussing technology in the business context
• Reveal the technology management processes at work
• Identify areas for transfer of best practice or improvement

This paper reports recent work which widens the scope of the research by means of a multi-business application of the first stage of the procedure. The use of this preliminary step as a tool to support the development of a group view of the company's businesses and technologies is described, and the learning points and directions for further development are discussed.