Seller diversity on a technology-based platform

• Main Authors: WU, Ruhai, LIN, Mei
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2013
• Subjects: Databases and Information Systems; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/3741; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/4743/viewcontent/1_s2.0_S1877050913000975_main.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Managing a technology portfolio is one of the great challenges for sustained success, especially in high-technology industrieswhere technologies can be a major selling point. For engineers, this portfolio is more of a toolbox for solving design problems,but in large organizations there can be so many technologies used in different business areas that even the engineers may not beaware of all of them. When the same technologies are used in different types of products, knowledge about them can also begenerated by various groups within an organization. To improve the usefulness of a company's technology base, this paperproposes the use of a technology platform approach based on a framework featuring three different types of activities. The firstapproach is about adapting the technology base to future needs with the help of portfolio management techniques. The secondapproach serves to create awareness and shared understanding through an interactive technology catalogue, collectinginformation about how technologies work, where they are applied, and how they are used. The third approach is addressed atengineers who work with the technologies and includes practices for improving the reusability of knowledge recorded indocuments and communicated to others who are using a particular technology for development. The framework is intended tosupport a systematic approach for technology reuse in order to stimulate organizational learning and reduce lead-time and cost ofproduct development.