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2012
Conference Paper
Title
Leveraging technology assets - Comprehensive expoitation of technologies
Abstract
In recent decades, competition has become increasingly technology-based. From an economic perspective, the value deployment of technologies is an essential part of technology management. While most industrial firms focus on the internal application of technologies in their own products and services, the external mode of technology exploitation, i.e. the commercialization of disembodied technological knowledge, has long been neglected. This is due to the fact that companies lack in a systematic approach to evaluate their technologies in terms of all available exploitation opportunities. Different internal and external exploitation strategies such as r&d cooperation, strategic alliance, licensing, joint-venture, spin-off etc. should be included in a comprehensive decision making model . Furthermore, these strategies need to be evaluated considering the different characteristics regarding the technology, the exploiting company, the market where the technology should be exploited and the general objectives of the exploiting company. A thorough analysis of past research confirms this need and shows that the existing literature is highly fragmented. However, while a comprehensive and tailored exploitation model could help firms to achieve higher returns on their R&D expenditures, it may also enhance a firm's competitive position by leading to a more adequate use of its technology assets. Moreover it may contribute to a more effective technology exploitation in an economy in general, which constitutes a major challenge in many industrialized countries. In combination , these facts point to the need for research into technology exploitation decision making models. A comprehensive evaluation of the different exploitation strategies is needed in order to obtain a holistic perspective on how to commercialize technological know how. In addition, the decision making model has to consider different characteristics of the exploitation situation. Therefore, the aim of the present paper is to propose a fundamental approach for a decision making model in order to identify the most appropriate exploitation strategy, which considers the internal and external key factors that characterize the commercialization situation. The evaluation of the decision making concept is based on a throughout analysis of the existing literature and on one case that has been a ccomplished by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT. The goal of the case was to identify the appropriate exploitation strategy for a production facility that is capable to automatically produce tissues on demand, which can be used for toxicity and efficacy testing. Based on this fundamental analysis, a decision making model is proposed, in which are considered a comprehensive perspective of the different exploiting strategies and the key interdependencies of the commercialization situation.