Learning Goals

In this module, you will learn about technology and how its diffusion impacts business.  We will look at the related concept of modularity and how we can use this concept to design organizations and business processes. We will look at a systems perspective of technologies and implications for business. We will also discuss advantages of first and second movers. We will have our first case discussion and two groups will lead the discussion. In the last part of the class, we will have a lecture on market pull by our guest.

Key Takeaways: Can you understand the stage of your technology? Can you understand the challenges in adoption? Can you design organizations and products to overcome challenges? Understanding the relationship between technology, value creation and IP can position entrepreneurial firms for success.

2/9 and 2/14: Technology Adoption and Diffusion

We will discuss the role of technology in business. We will also see how technologies are systems and whether there are better ways of designing products and organizations to take advantage of the systems view of technology. I will showcase some ongoing work on technology strategy for new ventures. We will discuss the video game case.

Required Case Reading: Technology Leapfrogging in Video Games

Supplementary Materials:

1. IBIS World Report on Video game Consoles (you know where to get it)

2. Innovators Dilemma (Be backward compatible or move ahead)

Class Slides: Module-3-Technology-Concepts

Case Discussion

I would like you to think about the following questions as you read the case. We will have a discussion in class led by 2 groups:

Q1: Which strategies mentioned in the article influence Technology push, which ones affect customer Adoption? Why?

Q2: Does this hold for industries with network effects (demand side scale economies)? Why and Why not? Can you see these trends changing?

Q3: What does the case imply for the ongoing standards war between HD DVD and Blu Ray? or the one ongoing between 3D standards?

Q4: Are there any tradeoffs when making products backward compatible?

Q5: How did innovations in this industry change the industry structure and bargaining power of different players?

2/16: Market Analysis and Market Pull

We will have a short discussion on market analysis. This includes gathering secondary and primary data to support your claims about the market potential and competition. We will have a guest lecture on Market Pull.

Required Materials: Questions for our speaker.

Class Slides: