The lessons of failure: learning to manage new manufacturing technology
by John Bessant
International Journal of Technology Management (IJTM), Vol. 8, No. 3/4/5, 1993

Abstract: The potential offered by advanced manufacturing technologies to deal with the emerging challenges of the 1990s competitive environment is widely recognised, but concern has also been expressed about the ability of firms to exploit this to the full. Arguably the various problems reported in implementing AMT reflect a lack of strategic technology management, and this analysis is given further weight when we consider the kinds of mistake made in trying to use AMT most effectively during the 1980s. This paper reviews that early experience and the lessons which might be drawn from it, and argues the need for a more strategic approach to the management of technology in the 1990s and beyond. In particular, it looks at some of the issues raised in the effective management of technology, and considers three central questions facing managers and policy-makers. First, why is technology strategically important in the 1990s business environment? Second, if technological innovation is essentially a learning process, what capabilities need to be acquired in order to be able to deploy it as a strategic resource? And finally, how might such capabilities be developed within the firm?

Online publication date: Sun, 24-May-2009

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