TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY…
ERIC A SANTINI
erica.santini@unitn.it
17 FEBRUARY 2025
• I’m Erica Santini
• Ph.D. in Economics, University of
Florence
• Visiting Ph.D. student, Business
School of the University of
Birmingham
• Post-Doc in innovation and new
manufacturing in Switzerland
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INTRODUCE
MYSELF
• Research focuses on
agglomeration economies,
innovation,
entrepreneurial ecosystems,
servitization strategies, product- service
innovation and digitalization of
manufacturing
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INTRODUCE
MYSELF
• Cofounder of DEEP Ecosystems 500 UG
•Lecturer School of Innovation
•Professor Department of Economics and
Management
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INTRODUCE
MYSELF
Technology strategy 8 CFU
Business: Technology Strategy 6 CFU
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INTRODUCE
THE COURSE
YOU?
Technology strategy 8 CFU Business: Technology Strategy 6 CFU
MAIN
BEA
ERASMUS students
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YOU? ARE YOU TAKING
THE EXAM
Technology strategy 8 CFU Business: Technology Strategy 6 CFU
MAIN
BEA
ERASMUS students
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• What are the contents
• What about book and readings
• What is the plan
• What is the evaluation process
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INTRODUCE
THE COURSE
• What are the contents
Innovation and learning processes for both companies and
society in general are high-risk processes.
Scarcity
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• What are the contents
How are you going to learn?
Theory - Case Study
Strategy
Measurement
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• What about book and readings
The main core book of the course
SEVENTH EDITION 2023
Melissa Schilling
One of the most important
scholars on technology
trajectories, collaboration
networks and modularity
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• What about book and readings
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• What about book and readings
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• What about book and readings
Focusing on specific topics the course will propose some readings
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•
Absorptive capacity and learning processes
•
The S curve and the determinants of industry
evolution
•
The nature of the innovator's dilemma
•
Modularity
•
Organizational capabilities
• Servitization and product service system innovation
Class Room Time
◦ What is the plan
17-Feb
2E
18-Feb
3C
Slides + Chapter 1 + Chapter 2
Slides + Chapter 3 + Foster (1986); Bass et
al. (1994)
Slides + Chapter 3 + Foster (1986); Bass et
al. (1994)
Slides + Chapter 4 + Nonaka (1994)
24-Feb
2E
25-Feb
3C
2E
Absorptive capacity and learning
17-19 processes
04-Mar
10-Mar
11-Mar
17-Mar
Materials
17-19 Introduction
8.3010.30 Sources and Modes of Innovation
Types Innovation and Patterns of
17-19 Innovation
8.30- Types Innovation and Patterns of
10.30 Innovation
03-Mar
8 CFU
Topic
Slides + Chapter 2 + Jensen et al. (2007)
3C
8.30- Absorptive capacity and learning
10.30 processes
Slides + Cohen et al. (1990); Nooteboom
(2000); Tushman et al. (2002); Gilsing et al.
(2008); De Holan & Phillips (2011)
2E
First-Mover Advantages and
17-19 Disadvantages
Slides + Chapter 5
3C
8.30- The innovator's and the Follower’s
10.30 Dilemma
Slides + Christensen (1997); O'Reilly and
Tushman (2008); Argyres et al. (2015)
2E
Core Competencies and Dynamic
17-19 Capabilities
Slides + Chapter 6 + Leonard Barton
(1990) + Dosi et al. (2000) + Teece (2008)
18-Mar
31-Mar
3C
2E
01-Apr
3C
8.3010.30 Strategic Intent and Theory in Action Slides + Chapter 6
17-19 Make or buy or do together?
Slides + Chapter 8
8.3010.30 Make or buy or do together?
Slides + Chapter 8
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Class Room
◦ What is the plan
8 CFU
07-Apr
2E
08-Apr
3C
14-Apr
2E
15-Apr
3C
Time
17-19
Topic
Protecting Innovation and
patents
8.30-10.30 Organizing for Innovation
17-19
Modularity
Network externalities and
8.30-10.30 platforms
Materials
Slides + Chapter 9
Slides + Chapter 10
Slides + Chapter 4 - 10 + Argyres & Bigelow (2010)
+ Baldwin & Clark (2000)
Slides + Chapter 4
22-Apr
3C
27-Apr
2E
Slides + Chapter 2 + Burt (2004) + Porter (1998)+
Clusters and Technological
8.30-10.30 Spillovers
Audretsch & Feldman (2004)
Platform ecosystems, Business
ecosystems and Innovation
Slides + Moore (1993) + Adner (2006) + Jacobides
17-19 Ecosystems
et al. (2018) + Rietveld & Schilling (2021)
29-Apr
3C
8.30-10.30 Product Development
05-May
2E
06-May
3C
8.30-10.30 Product service systems
12 May
13 May
2E
3C
17-19 Servitization
8.30-10.30 Presentations
17-19
Product Development
Slides + Chapter 11
Slides + Chapter 11
Slides + Baines et al. (2007) + Tukken (2004) +
Porter and Heppelmann (2014) + Cusumano et al.
(2015)
Slides + Baines & Lightfoot (2013) + Baines
et al.
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(2020)
Class Room
◦ What is the plan
6 CFU
07-Apr
2E
08-Apr
3C
14-Apr
2E
15-Apr
3C
Time
17-19
Topic
Protecting Innovation and
patents
8.30-10.30 Organizing for Innovation
17-19
Modularity
Network externalities and
8.30-10.30 platforms
Materials
Slides + Chapter 9
Slides + Chapter 10
Slides + Chapter 4 - 10 + Argyres & Bigelow (2010)
+ Baldwin & Clark (2000)
Slides + Chapter 4
22-Apr
3C
27-Apr
2E
Slides + Chapter 2 + Burt (2004) + Porter (1998)+
Clusters and Technological
8.30-10.30 Spillovers
Audretsch & Feldman (2004)
Platform ecosystems, Business
ecosystems and Innovation
Slides + Moore (1993) + Adner (2006) + Jacobides
17-19 Ecosystems
et al. (2018) + Rietveld & Schilling (2021)
29-Apr
3C
8.30-10.30 Product Development
05-May
2E
06-May
3C
8.30-10.30 Product service systems
12 May
13 May
2E
3C
17-19 Servitization
8.30-10.30 Presentations
17-19
Product Development
Slides + Chapter 11
Slides + Chapter 11
Slides + Baines et al. (2007) + Tukken (2004) +
Porter and Heppelmann (2014) + Cusumano et al.
(2015)
Slides + Baines & Lightfoot (2013) + Baines
et al.
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(2020)
• What is the evaluation process?
• Presentations of work assignments (40%):
- > By 31st March, select a case study you want to investigate by applying
the concepts explored during the course.
- > By 11th May, deliver the assignment (present a summary of 250
words). Individual assessment through the presentation of the case
study (criteria: critical thinking, originality, ability to use concepts).
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• What is the evaluation process?
• Presentations of work assignments (40%):
- > By 31st March, select a case study you want to investigate by applying
the concepts explored during the course.
- > By 11th May, deliver the assignment (present a summary of 250
words). Individual assessment through the presentation of the case
study (criteria: critical thinking, originality, ability to use concepts).
•
Written exam (60%) with multiple choice and open questions, no just testing
memory but ability to use tools.
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• I have an issue…
Do we use Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn… it is just 1 min distraction…
I know that it is not easy
But respect
Distract me and your classmates, I can see if you are doing other stuff!
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•
What is Innovation
•
Why is Innovation important
• What is Technological Innovation
Technological Innovation
The act of introducing a new device, method, or material for application to
commercial or practical objectives.
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• What is Technological Innovation
Technological Innovation
The act of introducing a new device, method, or material for application to
commercial or practical objectives.
?
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• What is Technological Innovation
Technological Innovation
The act of introducing a new device, method, or material for application to
commercial or practical objectives.
?
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The degree of novelty is a function both of how different it
is from prior work and of the audience’s prior experiences.
• What is Technological Innovation
Technological Innovation
The act of introducing a new device, method, or material for application to
commercial or practical objectives.
?
- A product could be novel to the person who made it but
known to most everyone else.
- A product could be novel to its immediate audience yet
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be well known somewhere else in the world.
• What is Innovation
Technological Innovation
The act of introducing a new device, method, or material for application to
commercial or practical objectives.
1. for the producer
2. for the local audience
3. for the broader society
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• Why is Innovation important
Technological Innovation
FIRMS
?
SOCIETY
?
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• Why is Innovation important
Technological Innovation
FIRMS
is the most important driver of competitive success
SOCIETY
increased the amount of output achievable from a given quantity of
labour and capital (Solow Residual)
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• Why is Innovation important
Technological Innovation
FIRMS
is the most important driver of competitive success
SOCIETY
increased the amount of output achievable from a given quantity of
labour and capital (Solow Residual)
The aggregate impact of technological innovation can be observed by looking at
gross domestic product (GDP).
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• Why is Innovation important
Economists showed that the historic rate
of economic growth in GDP could not be
accounted for entirely by growth in labor
and capital inputs.
Economist Robert Merton Solow argued
that this unaccounted-for residual growth
World Gross Domestic Product per Capita
1980–2019 (in real 2019 U.S. dollars)
Source: “World GDP Per Capita 1960–2021,”
Macrotrends, https:// www.macrotrends.net/ countries/WLD/world/ gdp-per-capita.
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represented technological change.
Solow received a Nobel Prize for his work
in 1981, and the residual became known
as the Solow Residual.
• Why is Innovation important
Technological Innovation
FIRMS
is the most important driver of competitive success
SOCIETY
increased the amount of output achievable from a given quantity of
labour and capital (Solow Residual)
results in externalities that are costs, or benefits, that are borne by individuals other
than those responsible for creating them.
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• Why is Innovation important
Industry 4.0 (e.g., robots, AI, bigdata, additive manufacturing)
Negative externalities
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Positive externalities
• Why is Innovation important
Industry 4.0 (e.g., robots, AI, bigdata, additive manufacturing)
Negative externalities
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Positive externalities
• Why is Tech Innovation Strategy important
The importance of Strategy
the majority of effort and money invested in technological innovation comes from industrial
firms.
While innovation is popularly depicted as a freewheeling process that is unconstrained by rules
and plans, study after study has revealed that successful innovators have clearly defined
innovation strategies and management processes.
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• Why is Tech Innovation Strategy important
The importance of Strategy
The New
Product Development
Funnel in
Pharmaceuticals
Source: Schilling (2023), p. 5
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SEE U TOMORROW
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