Disruptive Technology Reconsidered: A Critique and Research Agenda

The popular work by Clayton Christensen and colleagues on disruptive technology serves as a springboard to examine five key issues concerning the effect of technological change on firms and industries. This article challenges and integrates current theory in this domain, and raises questions to initiate new work. The discussion is organized around the following themes: the definition of disruptive technology, the predictive use of the theory of technological disruption, explaining the success of incumbents, the implications of the theory for the merits of being customer-oriented, and the merits of creating a spin-off to commercialize the disruptive technology. Examination of these themes shows the relationship of the disruptive technology work with research in a variety of related areas. Many of these links have not been made explicit before, and several of them have been misunderstood. This article is intended to encourage further research on disruptive technology and spur debate by practitioners and scholars alike.     

When are technologies disruptive? a demand‐based view of the emergence of competition

By identifying the possibility that technologies with inferior performance can displace established incumbents, the notion of disruptive technologies, pioneered by Christensen (1997), has had a profound effect on the way in which scholars and managers approach technology competition. While the phenomenon of disruptive technologies has been well documented, the underlying theoretical drivers of technology disruption are less well understood. This article identifies the demand conditions that enable disruptive dynamics. By examining how consumers evaluate technology and how this evaluation changes as performance improves, it offers new theoretical insight into the impact of the structure of the demand environment on competitive dynamics. Two new constructs—preference overlap and preference symmetry—are introduced to characterize the relationships among the preferences of different market segments. The article presents a formal model that examines how these relationships lead to the emergence of different competitive regimes. The model is analyzed using computer simulation. The theory and model results hold implications for understanding the dynamics of disruptive technologies and suggest new indicators for assessing disruptive threats. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

输油管道漏失监测技术发展综述

通过对国内外近15年中输油管道漏失监测技术的研究状况跟踪比较,简要分析了各种监测技术的监测原理和优缺点,得到各种检测方法的应用范围;并指出了输油管道漏失监测技术的发展方向。     

Organizational strategy and resource allocation for technological turnaround

Abstract
A major issue for organizations planning for technological turnaround concerns the question of how to internalize the new technology. This article reports the findings of an exploratory research that addressed this problem. A multiple case study approach has been used to study and analyze the different strategies and organizational approaches to absorb alien technologies (in-house development, intercompany co-operation, purchase of technology, contract research, joint-venture, acquisition). On the basis of the results, a propositional framework has been developed which offers managers a perspective to develop a strategy with respect to the appropriate organizational design to 'de-mature' technologically mature business units.     

油气勘探领域两种气体检测技术的比较及应用

在油气勘探领域的钻井过程中,气体检测技术在油气层发现和评价方面发挥着重要作用。目前氢火焰检测技术在油气勘探中占主导地位。随着红外检测技术的逐渐成熟,该技术开始应用于油气勘探。从分析这两种气体检测技术的原理出发,探讨了两种技术各自的优缺点,并对这两种技术在油气勘探领域的应用情况进行了介绍。     

Blockchain as a cutting-edge technology impacting business: A systematic literature review perspective

As one of the most disruptive technological innovations, blockchain technology has received extensive attention from academia and industry. Although many scholars have reviewed the existing blockchain research, most of the previous review articles focused on the application of technology or blockchain in specific industries or scenarios, and lacked a comprehensive review of the application of blockchain technology in the business field. Based on a systematic literature review approach and cluster analysis, this study quantitatively analyzed 2830 papers obtained from the Web of Science to fill this gap. By constructing a three-layer research framework, this research enumerates the infrastructure and protocols of blockchain technology in detail, and on this basis develops a three-subjects value creation model. The model highlights that business value can be created from transactions, crypto-economic models, and analytical and automated processes in the interaction of organizations, individuals, and technologies. Different blockchain-based applications solve different kinds of economic problems, including information storage/sharing, consensus generation and governance. This study expands the blockchain literature and deepens our understanding of how blockchain technology affects organizations and individuals in the business world. The newly proposed research framework can inspire practitioners and managers to discover opportunities for business model innovation. This work provides a solid research foundation and practical guidance for academics and practitioners who are interested in blockchain-based business.     

Analysing disruptive potential: the case of wireless local area network and mobile communications network companies

In this article, we analyse the prediction that wireless local area network (W-LAN) technologies will be disruptive for incumbent mobile communications network operators. For this purpose, we develop a methodology of guided interviews to assess technologies for their disruptive characteristics based on theory of disruptive technology developed by Christensen (1997) and recent extensions. The application of our comprehensive step-by-step method improves the precision of the disruptive technology concept and its usability for practitioners to make ex ante distinctions between disruptive technologies and other phenomena caused by emerging technologies. Our method predicts that contrary to common assumptions, W-LAN is not likely to represent a disruptive technology for the established mobile communications network firms in terms of Christensen's concept. This research was conducted in close collaboration with Vodafone Pilotentwicklung, an R&D and technology monitoring unit of the Vodafone Group. Vodafone provided part of the empirical data through expert interviews and market reports.     

Why do incumbents sometimes succeed? Investigating the role of interorganizational trust on the adoption of disruptive technology

Previous research has noted that new firms traditionally have more success with the diffusion of disruptive technologies than do incumbent firms. For the development of disruptive technologies, newer firms appear to be advantageous as they are generally more flexible in resource allocation. However, exceptions can be found in various industries in which incumbents have been able to succeed with their own disruptive technologies. One possible explanation for these exceptions is the influence of pre-existing levels of trust already developed between incumbents and potential buyers of disruptive technologies. In order to explore this further, this article provides a link between interorganizational trust and the adoption of new, disruptive technologies in industrial markets. By surveying 134 current and potential Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) users, we show how pre-existing, interorganizational trust impacts the perceptions a potential buyer has towards a disruptive technology and how these perceptions influence a buyers' intention to adopt a new, disruptive technology. Beyond trust, we use perceived ease of use, perceived value, perceived usefulness and financial stability to create a predictive model for intention to adopt. Holistically, this article provides insight on how buyer–supplier relationships generally favor incumbent firms and can impact a buyers' perception of a new, disruptive technology.     

Sources, characteristics and effects of emerging technologies: Research opportunities in innovation

Diverse technological developments across information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and satellite communications technology are dramatically altering industry landscapes, with important economic and policy implications. Not surprisingly, therefore, managers are challenged to develop strategies to cope with the threats posed by emerging technologies and leverage the opportunities posed by them. Indeed, there is growing anecdotal evidence that firms' inabilities to cope with emerging technologies have produced high product and firm failure rates.From an academic perspective, I argue that emerging technologies have important distinctive features that have not been examined in current theory in marketing, and specifically, in organizational innovation. In this article, I identify several research questions that emerge from the sources, characteristics and effects of emergent technologies in the area of organizational innovation. Insights generated from such a line of inquiry have the potential to broaden the canvas of innovation theory and provide valuable insights to managers who confront these onerous challenges on a daily basis.     

浅谈统计技术在实验室质量管理体系中的运用

阐述了统计技术在企业质量管理中的作用,介绍了西南油气田分公司物资公司检测公司近年来统计质量控制取得的成果,指出了统计技术在实验室质量管理体系中运用时应坚持：树立以事实为基础的决策思想;抓好统计技术应用的培训;选择合适的统计技术方法;提高统计的质量,加强数据分析;应用统计技术,确定发展方向;运用统计技术对关键过程或关键质量因素进行分析。     

Ubiquitous technologies and 5G development. Who is leading the race?

The introduction of the fifth generation of mobile technology (5G) is expected to bring disruptive changes. These changes will be much more pervasive than any previous introduction of new mobile ‘generations’ and they are expected to influence the whole economy. For this reason, the global rush for 5G technology is not only considered crucial in economic or technological terms, but also for its implications in terms of geopolitics, international policy and national security.This paper presents an analysis of the patents in the most relevant fields of specialization connected to the 5G development. The period under investigation is from 2010 to 2019, and the data are extracted from the European Patent Office (EPO) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database. The analysis shows how the technologies and the specialisations needed to develop 5G are in the hands of a few countries around the globe, and how single European countries, taken in isolation, are not among those leading players. However, Europe, considered as a whole, competes well with the US and Asia in terms of patented innovations, suggesting the economic and strategic relevance of strengthening cooperation within the EU.     

An epistemological framework for nanoscience and nanotechnology literacy

The need for a new literacy that will allow for meaningful participation in the rapidly evolving field of nanotechnology is very critical to national development. This need is important for nanotechnology to achieve its full potential. This paper describes and analyzes some contemporary philosophical interpretations of the concept of technological literacy. The paper then focuses on some of the metaphysical assumptions underpinning the techno-scientific literacy framework; and theories governing public understanding of science and technology, as the basis to propose a new technological literacy framework suitable in the era of nanotechnology. A case is made that the new technological literacy framework proposed is a suitable and essential pedagogic endeavour which should be seen as yielding a perspective through which meaning may be infused into the importance of nanotechnology development–a perspective as essential to the informed lay person as it is to the truly literate technologist. The paper concludes by analyzing the implications of the proposed epistemological framework on nanotechnology workforce development and makes recommendations based on this new framework to achieve a ‘nanoliterate’ society.     

Maximizing buyer–supplier relationships in the Digital Era: Concept and research agenda

As technology continues to advance and new products emerge, the interactions between buyers and suppliers have changed. The management of buyer–supplier relationships has increasingly become more dependent on new technologies, such as Partner Relationship Management (PRM) systems and computer-mediated communications (CMC). Furthermore, when new technologies emerge, suppliers are expected to educate their buyers about the benefits of the technology, train them on how to use it, and aid with the integration of the technology into pre-existing work processes. Given these issues, this special issue of Industrial Marketing Management explores the changing nature of buyer–supplier relationships in the Digital Era. This article presents a snapshot of the changes in buyer–supplier relationships brought on by new technology, provides an overview of the selected articles in this special issue, and offers a few directions for future research.     

关于LNG工程用不锈钢管技术标准的选用

通过对（LNG）工程用不锈钢管所采用的不同技术标准进行对比,分析了不同技术标准关于无缝和焊接奥氏体不锈钢公称管之间的差别．还分析了不同技术标准规定的差异以及对技术标准理解的偏差等产生质量问题的原因,叙述了LNG工程用不锈钢管的采标原则以及修订和完善相关技术标准的重要性和必要性．并提出了为保证LNG工程用不锈钢管的质量而对产品的生产厂商实施驻厂质量监督的建议。     

Technology Exploitation Paths: Combining Technological and Complementary Resources in New Product Development and Licensing

Technological resources in the form of patents, trade secrets, and know‐how have become key assets for modern enterprises. This paper addresses a critical issue in technology and innovation management, namely, the commercial exploitation of technological resources resulting from research and development (R&D) investments. Extracting economic value from these resources by maximizing the benefits for shareholders is an extremely challenging task because technological resources are intangible, idiosyncratic, uncertain, predominantly tacit, and with poorly defined property rights. In their attempt to extract the maximum value from their technological resources, firms increasingly combine their internal exploitation through new product development (NPD) with external exploitation through licensing. However, most existing studies on NPD and technology licensing have treated the two exploitation paths independently and in isolation, which has resulted in two separate research streams using different theories and addressing different managerial challenges. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to filling this gap by developing and testing a comprehensive conceptual framework that simultaneously considers the antecedents affecting the successful implementation of NPD and licensing strategies as well as their consequences on firm profitability. The paper in particular investigates the effects of the interplay between technological resources and three types of complementary resources, marketing, manufacturing, and relational. We test the model using structural equation modeling on a sample of 733 Spanish manufacturing firms observed from 2003 to 2007. The data provide support for the existence of different paths to market firm technologies: an internal path, whereby the ownership of technological resources fully explains NPD performance, and an external path, whereby high intensity of marketing and relational resources reinforces the positive effect of technological resources on licensing performance. This sustains the relevance of the resource‐based value‐enhancing effects of complementary resources in licensing, as opposed to the motivation‐reducing effects advanced by transaction cost‐based literature. Moreover, the empirical analysis shows a substitution effect between NPD and licensing, whereby their simultaneous pursuit at intense levels is associated with lower profit margins. This provides evidence of the much theorized, but seldom tested, rent dissipation effect. These findings offer several contributions to research on licensing, NPD, open innovation, and the resource‐based view of the firm. On a managerial level, they suggest that achieving maximum value from proprietary technologies may not entail exploiting them both through external and internal paths. Managers are also informed that the resource combinations that enhance licensing performance include marketing and relational resources.     

The new age of new product development: are we there yet?

A three-questionnaire DELPHI issues study identifies and ranks in importance the top twenty-four management of technology (MOT) issues (unresolved problems) in new product development involving advanced technologies. The study was conducted because of a dearth of studies evaluating the relative importance of MOT problems that are shared across advanced-technology industries. The study relates each of the top ten MOT issues to the 'new product development paradigm' to help explain the importance of each issue. Discussion of participants' comments provides insights into their concerns about each issue. Strategic Planning for Technology Products was identified as the top priority issue, but European and USA participants did not fully agree on the importance of several issues. The findings aid in identifying priority new product development research projects, and show R&D managers the extent to which specific MOT issues are of general concern among companies.     

Stimulating 'hot technologies': interorganizational networks in Dutch ceramic research

The role of interorganizational R&D networks between firms and universities in knowledge transfer of advanced technologies is analyzed. The starting assumption (coinciding with reasons of government bodies to support technological cooperation) is that a national knowledge and technology system exists. From this assumption a number of questions that exist about knowledge and technology transfer can be discussed. Notably whether the knowledge push model of technological innovation is valid. This is done through the analysis of the differences in the pattern of external contacts that exists between the scientific, industrial and policy organizations.
Empirical results of a case study of the stimulation of advanced ceramic technology by the Dutch government form the basis. Advanced ceramics is considered to be an emergent technology within the larger framework of generic technologies. However, the Dutch university and industry structure in this area is weak which raises a number of important questions about the possibility to built a technological infrastructure through government support. The paper concentrates on the role of resource and information flows, which characterize the position of specific organizations in the R&D network. The three main positions in this case are occupied by government bodies, various firms and the university and government laboratories.
Two conclusions on knowledge transfer in university-industry cooperation may be drawn. (a) Institutional (government and university) and industrial research networks are different in character and in fact they consist of different network elements. (b) Government policies, in this case, affect the outlook of scientists but not of firms.     

Technology Strategy in a Software Products Company

An overly narrow focus on core competencies and technologies may cause a firm to miss market opportunities. On the other hand, a firm's ongoing success depends on its ability to recognize and nurture the technologies necessary for the continual refinement and extension of its product families. This process of product renewal requires effective management of technological innovation, which in turn requires a clear understanding of the technological basis for a product family–that is, the product platform from which derivative or follow-on products are created. Using a software company as an example, Marc H. Meyer and Luis Lopez present a method for understanding the relationship between the nurturing of core technologies and the evolution of a product family. At the foundation of this method is the concept of a product platform–the core technologies that are common to all members of a product family. In other words, a platform provides the basic technological architecture for a series of derivative products. From an initial platform, a product family can evolve in two ways: through platform extensions or platform renewals. Platform extensions may involve changes to existing subsystems or the addition of new subsystems without altering the primary subsystems and interfaces in the existing design. Platform renewal is the redesign of a product to create an entirely new platform. To provide a basis for evaluating the effects of the software company's allocation of R&D expenditures, the authors created a product family map that differentiated between platform improvements and derivative product developments. Using the product family map, they examined R&D budgets and identified the allocation of spending among the core technologies embodied in the firms's products. The visual presentation of the product family maps and core capability investments were particularly useful for helping company management understand and learn from the consequences of past decisions. The analysis of the product family maps and R&D expenditures also provides a guideline for future decision-making. Specifically, to achieve desired amounts of technical and commercial leverage, successive product platforms in a product family must provide both balance and strength in the embodied core technologies. For market applications involving more than one core technology, a firm must pursue a balanced, inclusive technology strategy. In such cases, overemphasis on one core technology typically results in poor market performance.     

Assessment of mutually beneficial technology: East-West perspective

Many firms in the transitionary economies of Central and Eastern Europe are searching for Western partners to assist them with technological development. They are particularly interested in joint ventures, strategic alliances, and management contracts. They feel that rapid infusion of new technology is the fastest way to economic recovery.
The problem is that they do not understand how their level of technology compares to the technology level in Western economies. A significant technology gap exists. This problem is further complicated because managers from transitionary economies do not have appropriate technology assessment processes to assess internal as well as external technologies. This paper reviews this problem and offers some insights on it.     

Firm Size and Product Innovation

The linkage between firm size and product innovation has frequently been discussed by both researchers and other writers. John Ettlie and Albert Rubenstein report the results of a study which, by distinguishing between the incorporation of radical and incremental technology, attempts to resolve some of the controversy surrounding this issue. In particular, the authors hypothesize that up to a certain point, large firms with greater resources are more likely to commercialize radically new products successfully. Findings generally support this theory but refinements to the model are now possible. For example, firms with 1000 employees or less need not be excluded from radical product introduction if they resolve critical funding and research problems. This size-radicalness distribution is shaped like a fish hook or a claw. That is, up to about 1000 employees, there is no significant relationship between number of employees and radicalness of a new product. Between 1200 and 11,000 employees there is a significant, direct relationship. Finally, very large organizations (in excess of about 45,000 employees) are unlikely to introduce radically new products. Larger firms were significantly more likely to adopt ambitious new processing technologies in order to introduce these new products. Also, new product success was significantly predicted by the absence of funding problems in introducing the innovation and the degree to which the new product was a radical departure from existing practice.