The issue of assessing technology for business application remains a foremost concern for managers in industry. In practice, many managers know that there is something unsatisfactory about the standard use of Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) techniques, particularly when there is high uncertainty and a need for strategic flexibility. This is of central concern in the choice of development projects and when considering the acquisition of technology external to the firm. Recent advances in options and hybrid-model thinking have opened up new paths, but the application of these ideas in practice has been very limited.

This paper reviews the literature and practice in the field of technology valuation in the context of a �timeline� from early-stage technology to more mature technologies. This perspective is used to analyse the findings of recent interviews held with a range of companies to review the tools and techniques currently available to managers for the assessment of technology for business purposes, and identify gaps and limitations of these approaches. New approaches are proposed which integrate and complement existing tools and techniques to fill these significant gaps along the timeline. In the ongoing research project these developing tools will be applied in selected case examples to provide guidance to potentials users.

 

Keywords: technology, valuation, assessment, uncertainty, tools, techniques, options