At the end of the 20th century, the business firm depends critically on its technological and related skills to achieve its central strategic objectives:

This course will develop and apply a framework for understanding and evaluating the role of technology in corporate strategy. It is built on the following foundations.

1. Firm-specific knowledge is an essential feature of competitive success.

3. An innovation strategy must cope with:

The framework is based on recent research by David Teece and Gary Pisano. They propose the "dynamic capabilities" approach which gives central importance to the accumulation and exploitation of firm-specific capabilities, which enable it to cope with an ever-changing environment, and which generate products and services that satisfy customer needs better than the competition, and that are difficult to imitate.

These dynamic capabilities have three dimensions. The firm's:

The course will be structured around these three dimensions. Required reading for the course will include Part II (pp. 53-160) of Managing Innovation by Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt (Wiley, 1997)

These skills will be applicable mainly (but not exclusively) in larger firms, financial institutions and government agencies.

1. Lectures (Tuesday mornings. See 6 below)

The Seminar Timetable shows that the first three weeks will be spent in learning about sources and methods, and in topic selection (see also 8 below). Participants can make collective presentations, but will be assessed individually. (see 4 below).

Participants will be assessed on the basis of an essay (3,000 words for TIM students, 5,000 for others) to be submitted by the first day of the Summer Term. They are advised to base their essays on their seminar presentations, and to make use of concepts developed in the lectures and thematic seminars (see 8 below). In written work based on team presentations, it will be necessary to identify the specific contributions of each individual.

The lectures will begin on the morning of 5 January, 1999. The first seminar will be in the afternoon, when the organisation of the course will be discussed.

AD = Dr. A. Davies. MH = Prof. M. Hobday. PN = Dr. P. Nightingale, KP = Prof. K. Pavitt

The purpose of the presentation seminars is to enable participants to learn how to evaluate various aspects of corporate technology strategy, by using the increasing range of public knowledge sources now being made available through IT. This involves learning how to access information (through the Internet, and CD ROM’s and related services at Sussex and Brighton Universities), and to interpret information that is partly biased and always incomplete (just as in the "real world" of management).

Participants should (individually or collectively) choose subjects that can realistically be tackled in the limited time and space available: for example:

Even these subjects may turn out to be too broad, so that participants will have to learn to know what they do not know, and to make this explicit in their analysis.

Sources of Information. The Internet is both an opportunity (locating interesting information) and a danger (getting lost). One useful source is the Web sites of specific companies, which are often both intelligent and informative, but inevitably biased. A useful antidote is an attitude of critical scepticism, combined with a reading of the quality business journals - Business Week, The Economist, Financial Times, either on CD - ROM or Internet. You will find below some Internet sources of information on business and technology.

SPRU is a world leader in the development and policy use of indicators of scientific and technological activities. Sylvan Katz knows about counts of papers and citations as indicators of scientific activities, including collaboration with firms. In addition to international data, he can also provide access to so-called BESST data base, which traces in detail the sources and patterns of British scientific publications from 1981 to 1994, including links with business firms.

In addition. Pari Patel has a variety of indicators of technological activities in the world's large (and not so large) firms. In particular, rich and detailed information is available in the SPRU Library (on MEGATECH) on the US patenting activities by the world's business firms. A bit of effort is required to master the procedures, but the rewards in terms of useful information can be considerable. Pari and Aldo Geuna will introduce these sources on the afternoon of 19 January.

The Reading Material files include The UK R & D Scoreboard, 1998, which compares the R & D activities in the world’s major firms. Some Web sources are listed below

Tools for Analysis.

As is made clear at the beginning of this outline, the course lectures, seminars and readings are built on the three dimensions of technology strategy identified by David Teece and Gary Pisano. On this basis, you will find below a check-list of questions that deal with these various dimensions. It is very unlikely that participants will have either the time or the information to analyse all dimensions of corporate technology strategy: it is, for example, particularly difficult to obtain accurate information on the real (as distinct from formal) organisational processes (or lack of them) for strategic integration. Nonetheless, participants should try to use this - or any structured alternative - framework for analysing the information they have collected. This will reduce the dangers of unconsciously leaving important things out, and of drawing mistaken conclusions.

I would be interested in helping you with topics related to the broad general issue of business models for first copy industries of which the following are specific instances:

1. Now that methods for monitoring Internet site use have progressed to the point that advertisers are willing to pay for 'space' to have their messages exposed to passerbys, what methods are companies (or individuals using) to generate revenue by attracting 'viewers'? Is sufficient revenue being generated to make this a viable business strategy and if so what are the competitive threats and opportunities in this market?

2. For many years, a company existed in the San Francisco Bay Area called 'Information on Demand'. This company basically offered research assistance for hire at an hourly rate for questions ranging in specificity from duplicating cited literature to finding statistics from unspecified sources about the market shares of specific companies in a specific market. Subsequently, much of the market for such services have been displaced by large full text databases like Lexis-Nexis. At present, what is a viable business strategy for taking advantage of the public (or quasi-public) information resources of a large urban area (say London) to deliver information on demand or, in other words, for becoming an information intermediary? (Some research costs (interviews, database access) for this project costs may be defrayed from Steinmueller's reserve account.)

3. There are currently over 20,000 electronic journals. Elsevier publishes 200. Are there distinguishable features between electronic and print journals (select a field in which you have some technical knowledge)? Is becoming an electronic publisher of scholarly journals a viable strategy? What are the necessary conditions for success in this field?

4. About a year ago, there was a considerable flurry over 'push' technology on the Internet. The idea of this technology was that subscribers would state the type of information that they were interested in receiving and for a fee, or for suffering advertising, would receive periodic transmissions from the 'push' source. Recently, there has been little news about this development. What happened? Were there strategic flaws in the development of 'push' technology and could these have been avoided by a different strategic approach?

5. The Brighton area is known in this country as a centre for the development of multimedia. Selecting a sample of local companies, develop a 'map' of the strategies being employed to make a viable business in the multimedia area. Are there any strategic reasons why this area of the country should be favoured in developing a leadership position in this area (e.g. labour market issues, availability of specialised services, proximity to London)? Are there areas where market gaps appear to be developing or have developed (as indicated by high prices for services relative to costs)? What is preventing entry from filling these gaps? Related alternative: How would you develop a business strategy for developing a Brighton area 'multimedia service directory' as a profit-making business. The results should be cast in the form of a business plan with supporting market research. (Limited support for research costs, e.g. telephone charges, is available for this project from Steinmueller reserve.)

Hope this is what you have in mind and will find useful.

I am interested in any topic on any market, firm or technology are if it is related to the CEECs (Central and Eastern European countries). A second option is an essay on any firm which can be considered a latecomer firm.