Study Emerging Technology Management Strategy

Nowadays, the technology is undergoing great changes, and more and more new technologies are emerging. The emerging technologies (ETs) are defined as technologies that are forming or developing and may create new industries or bring deep impact on existing industry structures. The development of ETs can bring profound influence to the economic structure, and totally fresh challenge to the traditional management theory and practice. The pouring out of the ETs bears great and special strategic significance to the development of local companies in China. Nevertheless, little research and theory in the ETs management is available for the local companies.In this paper, in order to provide helpful theoretical instructions for enterprise management, we pay attention to the emerging technologies and the companies that are engaged in emerging technologies, and focus on identifying the characteristics of emerging technologies. Based on the different characteristics, we classify emerging technologies into three types, study their differences in source with typical cases, and put forward suggestions for managing each type of emerging technologies.With questionnaires and investigations, we apply factor analysis, cluster analysis and mean analysis with the data collected from 171 effective questionnaires. And combined with the study of three typical cases, we come to the following conclusions:(l)According to the questionnaires on identifying characteristics and factor analysis, we find seven basic characteristics of emerging technologies: knowledge base, appropriability, advantage, activity, uncertainty of market growth, property of market basis, and uncertainty of market need. Following this, we apply cluster analysis on emerging technologies, and find that emerging technologies can be divided into three types: standard dependent, complex and crossing, and base dependent. Through mean analysis, we find these types of ETs differ from each other in seven basic characteristics.(2)Based on questionnaires of identifying sources and independent T test, we find the differences of these three types of technologies in sources: standard dependent emerging technology mainly depends on users, universities, laboratories, and self R&D;complex and crossing technology mainly depends on users, self R&D, and foreign technology introduction, and base dependent technology mostly depends on universities, laboratories, competitors, and foreign technology introduction. These differences derive from the difference in the basic characteristics of each type of ETs,which directly influence the acquisition of ETs, while the research on the acquisition and source of each type of ETs is very instructional and inspirational to the ETs management strategy study.(3)Through the case study of typical cases, we find that the core characteristics of ETs have a crucial impact on management strategy, including direct impact and indirect one through technology source. The technology source of each type of ETs has a direct impact on the management strategy of each type, while the assistant characteristics of ETs have an indirect impact on the management strategy through technology source.