South Asian Journal of Management

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Technology Strategy, Contextual Factors and Business Performance:An Investigation of Their Relationship


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1 Management Faculty of Business, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC QLD 4558, India
     

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This paper identifies the key variables of technology strategy and investigates the degree of emphasis put by the Australian manufacturing industry on technology strategy along with other organizational strategies. The study found that the emphasis on technology strategy ranked fifth in a mix of six other organizational strategies. An investigation of the level of effectiveness of organizational strategies indicates that technology strategy ranks the second in spite of its low emphasis relative to other organizational strategies. Within the technology strategy, in-house development of technology has received the highest level of emphasis followed by acquisition of new technology, use of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), use of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), and use of numerically controlled (CNC) machines for firms which have adopted differentiation or focus generic strategies. The firms which have adopted a cost leadership generic strategy, however, tend to put more emphasis on acquisition of new technology. The respondents’ perceptions also suggest that in-house development of technology has been the most effective strategy in the past. The study extends further to investigate the relationship between technology strategy variables and organizational performance. The results indicate few significant correlations between sales growth in domestic market and use of CIM, FMS, and CNC machines. However, the correlations are very weak and do not contribute much in explaining the variance in the performance measures. Further analysis suggests that technology strategy receives more emphasis by firms which are at growth stage in their life cycle stage, are involved in the production of consumer and industrial goods both, are involved in exports, and have a higher proportion of domestic sales growth. The results of this study are based on the mail survey responses received from manufacturing firms across Australia.
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  • Technology Strategy, Contextual Factors and Business Performance:An Investigation of Their Relationship

Abstract Views: 162  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

Bishnu Sharma
Management Faculty of Business, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC QLD 4558, India

Abstract


This paper identifies the key variables of technology strategy and investigates the degree of emphasis put by the Australian manufacturing industry on technology strategy along with other organizational strategies. The study found that the emphasis on technology strategy ranked fifth in a mix of six other organizational strategies. An investigation of the level of effectiveness of organizational strategies indicates that technology strategy ranks the second in spite of its low emphasis relative to other organizational strategies. Within the technology strategy, in-house development of technology has received the highest level of emphasis followed by acquisition of new technology, use of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), use of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), and use of numerically controlled (CNC) machines for firms which have adopted differentiation or focus generic strategies. The firms which have adopted a cost leadership generic strategy, however, tend to put more emphasis on acquisition of new technology. The respondents’ perceptions also suggest that in-house development of technology has been the most effective strategy in the past. The study extends further to investigate the relationship between technology strategy variables and organizational performance. The results indicate few significant correlations between sales growth in domestic market and use of CIM, FMS, and CNC machines. However, the correlations are very weak and do not contribute much in explaining the variance in the performance measures. Further analysis suggests that technology strategy receives more emphasis by firms which are at growth stage in their life cycle stage, are involved in the production of consumer and industrial goods both, are involved in exports, and have a higher proportion of domestic sales growth. The results of this study are based on the mail survey responses received from manufacturing firms across Australia.