Chapter 4: Technology driven development Flashcards
Explain the difference between “technology push” and “demand pull” when it comes to technology or product development.
- Technology push occurs when advancements in research and technology lead to the development of new products and innovations, often driving market changes.
- Demand pull, on the other hand, happens when customer needs and desires drive the creation of new products and technologies, with development focused on meeting those expressed demands.
Define and describe the concept innovation.
Innovation is the introduction of a new or improved service, process, method, or product, often leading to significant changes or reorganization within an industry.
The technological development within a specific area often follows a so called s-curve. Explain what such S-curves describe.
The S-curve is used to describe the rate of technological performance improvement and the speed at which a technology spreads in the market. It typically shows slow initial progress, rapid growth, and eventual stabilization as the technology matures.
Explain the difference between incremental innovation and radical innovation.
Incremental innovation is the norm, involving gradual, step-by-step improvements that typically result in slow development of new technologies. Radical innovation, however, represents a breakthrough where technological progress accelerates rapidly and performance increases significantly, often focusing investment on the most impactful technological components.
What is a reverse salient?
A reverse salient is a bottleneck or area of lag in technological development that hinders progress in a broader system, where the pace of advancement is slower than other areas, causing delays or disruptions.
Describe, with a figure and in words, the diffusion life cycle of an innovation, and name the fire user categories in the model.
The diffusion life cycle of an innovation describes how a new technology or idea spreads through a population over time. It is typically depicted as an S-curve and consists of several stages:
Introduction: The innovation is introduced to the market. Adoption is slow initially as awareness and understanding are limited.
Growth: Adoption accelerates as the innovation gains acceptance and is embraced by early adopters.
Maturity: The rate of adoption stabilizes as the innovation becomes widely accepted and reaches the majority of potential users.
Decline: Adoption slows down or declines as the innovation becomes outdated or replaced by new technologies.
The fire user categories in the diffusion model are:
Innovators: The first individuals to adopt an innovation. They are risk-takers and often have access to financial resources.
Early Adopters: Individuals who adopt the innovation soon after the innovators. They are often seen as opinion leaders and help influence the broader market.
Early Majority: Individuals who adopt the innovation before the average person. They wait until the innovation has been proven by early adopters.
Late Majority: Individuals who are skeptical and adopt the innovation only after it has become mainstream.
Laggards: The last group to adopt the innovation, often resistant to change and cautious about new technologies.
Describe the difference between product innovation and process innovation and during which phase of a technology´s development the former and the latter usually dominate.
Product innovation involves the creation of new or improved goods, typically dominating during the early stages of a technology’s development, while process innovation focuses on improving manufacturing or operational efficiencies, usually becoming prominent as the technology matures.
What does the concept dominant design mean? Give 3 concrete examples.
A dominant design is a product that becomes the de facto standard in the market, not necessarily because it is the cheapest or technically superior, but because it successfully meets customer needs and establishes itself as the prevailing choice. It often sets the direction for future developments, such as the QWERTY keyboard layout, the Model T Ford, and Microsoft Office.
Give two examples of technology shifts that have fundamentally changed established industries.
Technological shifts occur when S-curves change due to significant innovations or changes in technology. Two examples are when a company specializing in mechanical calculators could not compete as mass-produced simple calculators became prevalent, and when digital cameras replaced film cameras, eliminating the need for film development.
Explain the concept disruptive innovation.
Disruptive innovation refers to a process where a new, often simpler and more affordable technology or business model disrupts and eventually replaces established products or services by targeting underserved or emerging markets. T.ex. Uber.
Explain why it is important that technology based companies are “ambidextrous”.
Being “ambidextrous” means that a company simultaneously exploits existing knowledge for current operations while also exploring and developing new knowledge and capabilities for future growth.
What does “Amara´s Law” state?
“We tend to overestimate the impact of new technology in the short term and underestimate its impact in the long term.”
