Technology Platform Exploitation:
Definition and Research Boundaries
Dominique R. JOLLY
and Maryam NASIRIYAR
16th International Conference on Management of Technology, 2007, Miami Beach.
Example: Dassault Aviation
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Example: GEMPLUS … smart card
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Example: GEMPLUS … smart card
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Example: GEMPLUS … smart card
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Theoretical Issues Raised
Technology Platform: Kogut & Zander (1992), Kim & Kogut (1996),
Chapelet & Tovstiga (1998), Koruna (2004), Osterloff (2005)
Market
Opportunities
Diversification
Firm’s
Resources,
Competencies
& Capabilities
Firm’s
Performance
Firm’s
Product
Portfolio
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What do we learn from the literature?

Corporate diversification is associated with higher
performance when it takes advantage of economies of
scope in valuable, rare, and inimitable resources (Barney,
1986; Prahalad and Hamel, 1990; Robins and Wiersema, 1995; Jolly,
2000)
Firm’s
resources
Competences
Econom.
of scope
when
diversify
Increase
of
perform.
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What do we learn from the literature?

Firm's technological resource significantly influences its
diversification decisions and is a major source of product
diversification and firm growth (Kim and Kogut, 1996; Patel and
Pavitt, 1997; Silverman, 1999; Piscitello, 2000)
Technological
resources
Diversification
decisions
Firm
growth
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Purpose of this paper

PART 1 – CHARACTERIZE THE TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM (TP)

PART 2 – POSITION OF THE TP vis-à-vis:



Product platform
Core competencies
Dynamic capabilities
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
PART 1 – CHARACTERIZE THE TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM (TP)

PART 2 – POSITION OF THE TP vis-à-vis:



Product platform
Core competencies
Dynamic capabilities
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contributions of previous research in technology platform
Authors
GEST(1986)
Miyazaki
(1994)
Kim and
Kogut
(1996)
Silverman,
(1999)
Giget (1999)
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contributions of previous research in technology platform
Technologies characteristics
Authors
A set of related
technological
competencies as a
platform
GEST(1986)

Miyazaki
(1994)
Kim and
Kogut
(1996)

Silverman,
(1999)
Giget (1999)

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(1) Related
-Common sources
-Simultaneous use
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contributions of previous research in technology platform
Technologies characteristics
Authors
A set of related
technological
competencies as a
platform
common base of
platform in
different product
families or SBUs
GEST(1986)

Miyazaki
(1994)
Kim and
Kogut
(1996)



Silverman,
(1999)


Giget (1999)


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(1) Related
(2) Common base
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contributions of previous research in technology platform
Technologies characteristics
Authors
A set of related
technological
competencies as a
platform
common base of
platform in
different product
families or SBUs
Distinctiveness
of competencies in
platform
GEST(1986)

Miyazaki
(1994)
Kim and
Kogut
(1996)



Silverman,
(1999)



Giget (1999)


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(1) Related
(2) Common base
(3) Distinctive
Competitive
markets
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contributions of previous research in technology platform
Technologies characteristics
Authors
A set of related
technological
competencies as a
platform
common base of
platform in
different product
families or SBUs
Managagerial and organizational capability characteristics
Distinctiveness
of competencies in
platform
Experience and
accumulated
knowledge of the firm
GEST(1986)

Miyazaki
(1994)
Kim and
Kogut
(1996)



Silverman,
(1999)






Giget (1999)


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(1) Related
(2) Common base
(3) Distinctive
Competitive
markets
(4) Experience
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contributions of previous research in technology platform
Technologies characteristics
Authors
A set of related
technological
competencies as a
platform
common base of
platform in
different product
families or SBUs
Managagerial and organizational capability characteristics
Distinctiveness
of competencies in
platform
Experience and
accumulated
knowledge of the firm
Redeployment and
reconfiguration of the
competencies
GEST(1986)

Miyazaki
(1994)
Kim and
Kogut
(1996)




Silverman,
(1999)









Giget (1999)



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(1) Related
(2) Common base
(3) Distinctive
Competitive
markets
(4) Experience
(5) Reconfiguration
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contributions of previous research in technology platform
Technologies characteristics
Authors
A set of related
technological
competencies as a
platform
common base of
platform in
different product
families or SBUs
Managagerial and organizational capability characteristics
Distinctiveness
of competencies in
platform
Experience and
accumulated
knowledge of the firm
Redeployment and
reconfiguration of the
competencies
Renewal and
rejuvenating
the
competencies










GEST(1986)

Miyazaki
(1994)
Kim and
Kogut
(1996)



Silverman,
(1999)



Giget (1999)



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
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(1) Related
(2) Common base
(3) Distinctive
Competitive
markets
(4) Experience
(5) Reconfiguration
(6) Renew
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Sum.: Technology platform features (1/2)
Technology platform encompasses a set of
technologies:
1- which are related;
2- which are common to different businesses and
product families;
3- which are distinctive and can provide competitive
advantage.
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Sum.: Technology platform features (2/2)
Firms which exploit the technological
competencies as a platform:
3- Have experienced and accumulated knowledge in these
technologies.
4- Have the ability to exploit technological assets by
reconfiguring and recombining them into new applications
and contexts.
5- Renew, rejuvenate and enrich its technological assets to
respond market and technological changes.
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
PART 1 – CHARACTERIZE THE TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM (TP)

PART 2 – POSITION OF THE TP vis-à-vis:



Product platform
Core competencies
Dynamic capabilities
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Competency characteristics
Research Area
Authors
Prahalad and
Hamel (1990)
Core
competency
Dynamic
capabilities

common base of
platform in
different product
families or SBUs
Distinctiveness
of competencies
in platform
Experience and
accumulated
knowledge of the
firm
Redeployment
and
reconfiguration of
the competencies
Renewal and
rejuvenating the
competencies















Meyer et al
(1993)





Qingrui et al
(2000)





Krishnan and
Gupta (2001)



Halman, et al
(2003)



Markides and
Williamson
(1994)
Lei, et al
(1996)
Product
platform
A set of related
technological
competencies as
a platform base
Competency management capability characteristics
Kogut and
Zander (1992)
Teece , et al
(1997)
Eisenhardt
and Martin,
(2000)












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Product Platform
and Technology Platform
Product
family 1
SBU
1
Product
family 2
SBU
2
SBU
3
Product
1
SBU
…
Technology
platform
Product
2
Product
3
Product
…
Product
platform
Common
components,
modules and parts
A stream of
technological
resources
Technology platform perspective
Product platform perspective
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Overlap between Product Platform, Technology Platform,
Core Competencies and Dynamic Capabilities
Core Competencies
Sharing and renewing core competency in different
business units of diversified firms
Product
platfor
m
Reusing
a
common
base for
a
product
family
Dynamic Capabilities
Building and reconfiguring
competences to address
rapidly changing
environments
Technology Platform
Exploiting and renewing the technological
competencies to generate new applications as
large as possible
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Paper’s contribution
Technology platform characteristics

Characteristics of technological
competencies themselves

Characteristics of organizational and
managerial capabilities
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Conclusion
Technology platform is the result of firm’s
accumulated knowledge and experience and its
capabilities to reconfigure and reused the
technological competencies inter-temporally in
different core products and businesses.
Technology platform encompass the characteristicas
of dynamic capabilities and core competencies
and applies them for the technological
competencies.
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
Thank you for your attention!
Dominique R. JOLLY, Professor
CERAM Business School
BP 085 – 60, rue Dostoïevski
06902 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS Cédex (France)
Dominique.Jolly@Ceram.fr
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