From followers to leaders : managing technology and innovation in newly industrializing countries

The last years have seen a profusion of books and articles on managing technology, focused almost exclusively on leading edge firms in leading edge countries. This book argues that succeeding as a follower-firm requires learning from many experiences and avoiding simplistic 'how-to' approaches that prescribe one best practice. Individual chapters cover: * the role of innovation on the shop-floor * the importance of mixing process and product innovation * the challenges involved in building an innovation culture * the special role of R&D and design. These topics instruct a deeper understanding of strategy in follower-firms, simultaneously providing insight for public policy in building local technological capacity. Forbes and Wield argue that there are many 'leading edges' which appear in the most unlikely places. Their book contains major case studies from many different firms in twelve countries over five continents, in industry segments as diverse as pharmaceuticals, software, garments, beer and steel. This informative book for students, researchers and professionals in the fields of business, management and information technology shows that successful experiences can arise anywhere in the world. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 List of figures......Page 10 List of tables......Page 11 List of boxes......Page 13 Preface......Page 14 Acknowledgements......Page 16 Beneath the surface......Page 18 Technology in development myths and realities......Page 20 From myths to building blocks: understanding technical capability in firms......Page 26 Innovation management in follower-firms......Page 31 Conclusion: growing value-added in firms is the core objective......Page 36 Innovation success in follower-firms......Page 37 Hero Cycles: success through flexible specialization......Page 41 Grupo Vitro......Page 44 The Indian software industry: miracle in the making or a hightechnology 'sweat-shop'?......Page 49 Cemex......Page 54 Conclusions......Page 58 Changing policies for science and technology: governments and markets......Page 61 Understanding technology and industrial development......Page 63 What worked......Page 65 Comparing national policy environments: what matters for firms?......Page 73 Conclusions......Page 78 Innovation on the shop-floor......Page 80 Wages as a source of competitiveness......Page 81 Going beyond wage competitiveness: the new manufacturing as road-map......Page 84 Making innovation happen on the shop-floor what do we know? What do we not know?......Page 97 Looking beyond the firm......Page 99 Conclusions......Page 100 From process to product and proprietary......Page 102 Three 'ideal types' of firms......Page 103 What explains the differences state, culture or firm?......Page 110 Capturing innovation rents by going proprietary......Page 115 Conclusion: what does it take?......Page 125 Managing RD in technology-followers......Page 126 Why do RD in a technology-follower?......Page 143 The role and organization of RD in technology-followers......Page 147 Conclusions: organizing for effective RD in followers......Page 152 Design leadership for technology-followers......Page 154 Why do good design?......Page 155 What is good design? Moving up the value-chain with 'soft' quality......Page 159 Building design capability is hard......Page 162 Conclusions: from RD to DD......Page 169 Building a culture for innovation......Page 170 National culture and cultural stereotypes......Page 171 Moving beyond the stereotypes......Page 177 Follower-firms: organizing against the grain......Page 181 Building a firm culture for innovation......Page 183 Conclusions......Page 189 Organizing for innovation: from followers to leaders......Page 190 Building a technology strategy for innovation......Page 199 Policy implications......Page 206 Notes......Page 210 Bibliography......Page 218 Index......Page 227 How to improve technology management in follower-firms wherever they are located.This textbook is the result of ten years of teaching international technology management to managers and engineers (at Stanford University) and managing technology in a successful medium-sized firm in India.The last years have seen a profusion of books and articles on managing technology, focused almost exclusively on leading edge firms in leading edge countries. If one's firm is not IBM or Intel or Hewlett Packard or Glaxo or Microsoft, and has no expectation of pushing forward the frontiers of industrial knowledge, there is surprisingly little experience to draw on. This book expects to fill the gap.This book argues that succeeding as a follower-firm requires learning from many experiences and avoiding simplistic 'how-to' approaches that prescribe one best practice. We argue that there are many 'leading edges' and that they appear in the most unlikely places. The book contains major case studies from many different firms in twelve countries in five continents, in industry segments as diverse as pharmaceuticals, software, garments, beer and steel. They show that successful experiences can arise anywhere in the world.Individual chapters cover the role of innovation on the shop-floor, the importance of mixing process and product innovation, the challenges involved in building an innovation culture, the special role of R&D, and of design, all from a follower perspective. These topics instruct a deeper understanding of strategy in follower-firms, simultaneously providing insight for public policy in building local technological capacity. This book centres on the ways in which ordinary firms can improve technology management. It argues that succeeding as a follower-firm requires learning from many experiences and avoiding simplistic 'how-to' approaches. Are developing nations permanently restricted to being simply offshore manufacturing and assembly places for the business of the advanced nations?