The impact of long-term brand development strategies on brand value of companies operating in high-technology markets

The objective of the current research is to investigate brand value generation. The study is conducted in the context of high-technology companies. The research aims at finding the impact of long-term brand development strategies, including advertising investments, R&D investments, R&D intensity, new products developed and design. The empirical part of the study incorporated collection of primary and secondary data on 36 companies operating in high-technology sector and being rated as top companies with the most valuable brands by Interbrand consultancy. The data contained information for six consequent years from 2008 to 2013. Obtained data was analyzed using the methods of fixed effect and random effect model (panel data analysis). The analysis showed positive effect of advertising and R&D investments on brand value of high-technology companies in the long run. The impact of remaining three strategies was not approved and further investigation is required.

Why is it so Hard to Value Intangibles? Evidence from Investments in High-Technology Start-Ups

The paper uses a range of primary-source empirical evidence to address the question: ‘why is it to hard to value intangible assets?’ The setting is venture capital investment in high technology companies. While the investors are risk specialists and financial experts, the entrepreneurs are more knowledgeable about product innovation. Thus the context lends itself to analysis within a principal-agent framework, in which information asymmetry may give rise to adverse selection, pre-contract, and moral hazard, post-contract. We examine how the investor might attenuate such problems and attach a value to such high-tech investments in what are often merely intangible assets, through expert due diligence, monitoring and control. Qualitative evidence is used to qualify the more clear cut picture provided by a principal-agent approach to a more mixed picture in which the ‘art and science’ of investment appraisal are utilised by both parties alike

A Technology Intelligence Process for a High Technology Company

Tämä diplomityö määrittelee teknologiaseurantaprosessin, jolla korkean teknologian yritys voi ohjata toimintaansa. Korkean teknologian yrityksille on olennaista seurata teknologian kehitystä. Tällaiset yritykset tarvitsevat hyvin määritellyn järjestelmän, jolla ne voivat seurata ja ennustaa teknologista kehitystä.Työssä esitetään, että teknologiaseuranta ja kilpailuseuranta (competitive intelligence) ovat business intelligencen osa-alueita, jotka täydentävät ja tukevat toisiaan. Tärkeä havainto on, että business intelligence -prosessi on ennen kaikkea organisaation oppimisprosessi. Tästä seuraa, että minkä tahansa BI-prosessin tulisi perustua niihin prosesseihin, joiden avulla organisaatiot oppivat. Työssä esitetään myös, miten business intelligence, tietojohtaminen (knowledge management) ja organisaatioiden oppiminen liittyvät toisiinsa.Teknologiaseuranta on elintärkeä toiminto korkean teknologian yritykselle; sitä tarvitaan monella strategisen johtamisen osa-alueella, ainakin teknologia-, markkinointi- ja henkilöstöjohtamisessa. Teknologiaseurannan havaitaan myös olevan korkean teknologian yritykselle erittäin tärkeä ydinosaamisalue, jota ei voi kokonaan ulkoistaa.Työssä esitellään teknologiaseurantaprosessi, joka perustuu yleiselle business intelligence -prosessille ja siitä johdetulle kilpailuseurantaprosessille. Työssä myös esitetään ehdotus siitä, kuinka teknologiaseuranta voitaisiin järjestää korkean teknologian yrityksessä. Esitetty ratkaisu perustuu Community of practice -käsitteeseen. Community of practice on vapaaehtoisuuteen perustuva tiimi, jonka jäseniä yhdistää kiinnostus johonkin asiaan ja oppimishalu. Esimerkkiyrityksessä on tunnistettu selkeä tarve yhtenäiseen ja koordinoituun teknologiaseurantaan. Työssä esitetään alustava teknologiaseurantaprosessi esimerkkiyritykselle ja tunnistetaan teknologiaseurantaprosessin asiakkaat ja tekijät.

New high technology product development: The case of light emitting diodes

New high technology products usher in novel possibilities to transform the design, production and use of buildings. The high technology companies which design, develop and introduce these new products by generating and applying novel scientific and technical knowledge are faced with significant market uncertainty, technological uncertainty and competitive volatility. These characteristics present unique innovation challenges compared to low- and medium technology companies. This paper reports on an ongoing Construction Knowledge Exchange funded project which is tracking, real time, the new product development process of a new family of light emitting diode (LEDs) technologies. LEDs offer significant functional and environmental performance improvements over incumbent tungsten and halogen lamps. Hitherto, the use of energy efficient, low maintenance LEDs has been constrained by technical limitations. Rapid improvements in basic science and technology mean that for the first time LEDs can provide realistic general and accent lighting solutions. Interim results will be presented on the complex, emergent new high technology product development processes which are being revealed by the integrated supply chain of a LED module manufacture, a luminaire (light fitting) manufacture and end user involved in the project.

Training and development in Irish technology companies

The sustained economic growth that has been experienced in the Irish economy in recent years has relied, to a large extent, on the contribution and performance of those industry sectors that possess the ability to provide high-value-added products and services to domestic and international markets. One such contributor has been the Technology sector. However, the performance of this sector relies upon the availability of the necessary capabilities and competencies for Technology companies to remain competitive. The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs have forecasted future skills shortages in this sector. The purpose of this research has been to examine the extent to which Irish Technology companies are taking measures to meet changing skills requirements, through training and development interventions. Survey research methods (in the form of a mail questionnaire, supported by a Web-based questionnaire) have been used to collect information on the expenditure on, and approach to, training and development in these companies, in addition to the methods, techniques and tools/aids that are used to support the delivery of these activities. The contribution of Government intervention has also been examined. The conclusions have been varied. When the activities of the responding companies are considered in isolation, the picture to emerge is primarily positive. Although the expenditure on training and development is slightly lower than that indicated in previous studies, the results vary by company size. Technical employees are clearly the key focus of training provision, while Senior Managers and Directors, Clerical and Administrative staff and Manual workers are a great deal more neglected in training provision. Expenditure on, and use of, computer-based training methods is high, as is the use of most of the specified techniques for facilitating learning. However, when one considers the extent to which external support (in the form of Government interventions and cooperation with other companies and with education and training providers) is integrated into the overall training practices of these companies, significant gaps in practice are identified. The thesis concludes by providing a framework to guide future training and development practices in the Technology sector.

Evaluation and realisation of a market entry method: The entry of a small high technology company into the British construction software markets

Tutkielman tavoitteena on tutkia, mikä olisi parhaiten case-yritykselle sopiva menetelmä tulla tekemään kauppaa ulkomaan markkinoille. Kaikki yleiset kansainvälisille markkinoilletulomenetelmät esitetään ja niiden edut ja haitat tuodaan esille. Selvittäessä tehtävänantajayrityksen resurssit, odotukset ja vaatimukset todetaan, että yhteistyössä tehtävä markkinoilletulo on pätevin vaihtoehto. Tämän jälkeen valitaan parhaiten tarkoitukseen sopiva yritys ennalta valitusta yritysvaihtoehtojen ryhmästä ja testataan tämän yrityksen yhteistyösopivuus case-yrityksen kanssa. Yritysten välinen yhteistyösopivuus arvioidaan analysoimalla yritykset haastattelujen avulla ja tutkielmassa esitettyjen teorioiden avulla. Sopivuus todetaan hyväksi, kattaen 71 prosenttia analysoiduista kohdista. Kaksikymmentäyhdeksän prosenttia kohdista todetaan kohdiksi, joissa yritysten välinen yhteisymmärrys ei ole toimeksiantajayrityksen minimivaatimukset täyttävää. Näitä kohtia tullaan käyttämään suunnittelun pohjana kun suunnitellaan jatkoneuvotteluja yhteistyön käynnistämiseksi.

Marketing performance measurement : overview of approaches and practices for high technology firms

Um levantamento de 320 executivos de marketing feito pelo Conselho CMO e divulgado em junho de 2004 indicou que poucas companhias de alta tecnologia (menos de 20% das empresas entrevistadas) têm desenvolvido medidas e métricas úteis e expressivas para as suas organizações de marketing. Porém a pesquisa também revelou que companhias que estabeleceram medidas formais e compreensivas atingiram resultados financeiros superiores e tiveram mais confiança do CEO na função de marketing. Esta dissertação provê uma visão geral da informação precisa para executivos de marketing entenderem e implementarem processos para medição de performance de marketing (MPM) em suas organizações. Ela levanta questões para gerentes de marketing na industria de alta tecnologia com respeito às demandas para maior responsabilidade final, valor de medição para o melhoramento dos processos de marketing, iniciativas para determinar a lucratividade dos investimentos em marketing, e a importância das atividades de marketing nos relatórios corporativos. Esta dissertação defende a implementação de MPM, mapeando seus benefícios de medição para ambos gerentes de marketing e as suas empresas. o trabalho logo explora alguns conceitos gerais de medição de marketing e investiga algumas abordagens a MPM propostas pela industria, pela comunidade acadêmica, e pelos analistas. Finalmente, a dissertação descreve algumas práticas que todo gerente de marketing na industria de alta tecnologia deve considerar quando adotando MPM. As sugestões são gerais, mas devem familiarizar o leitor com as informações precisas para habilitar processos e rigor na sua organização com respeito a MPM.

Integration in new product development: Case study in a large Brazilian high-technology company

Proficiency in management activities undertaken in product development processes is regarded as a key competitive advantage for companies, particularly for high-tech industrial firms, which benefit from the important competitiveness factor of launching products with a differentiated technological content. This paper's objective was to identify, through case study, practices for integration between the roles of R & D with others involved in product development in a large Brazilian company of industrial automation. The results suggest some management practices to improve the integration in new products development, such as the use of employees from marketing with knowledge and experience previously gained from R & D activities and uses the heavyweight product manager to solve synchronization problems between product and technology development. © Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Facultad de Economía y Negocios.

Green supply chain management in local and multinational high-tech companies located in Brazil

The objective of this article is to analyse how green supply chain management (GSCM) practices are being adopted by some high-tech companies located in Brazil. The research was conducted using the case study approach, focusing on eight companies that are representative of this sector. The main results are: (a) the most adopted GSCM practices in the studied high-tech companies located in Brazil are internal environmental management, investment recovery and reverse logistics and (b) Brazilian environmental legislation and international policies are very important in driving the adoption of GSCM practices. The internationalisation of companies was also found to be a variable that interferes with the adoption of GSCM practices. This is one of the first studies that examine the relationship between GSCM and the internationalisation of companies located in Brazil. © 2013 Springer-Verlag London.

Firms in Scottish High Technology Clusters: software, life sciences, microelectronics, optoelectronics and digital media – preliminary evidence and analysis on firm size, growth and optimality

This paper reports on: (a) new primary source evidence on; and (b) statistical and econometric analysis of high technology clusters in Scotland. It focuses on the following sectors: software, life sciences, microelectronics, optoelectronics, and digital media. Evidence on a postal and e-mailed questionnaire is presented and discussed under the headings of: performance, resources, collaboration & cooperation, embeddedness, and innovation. The sampled firms are characterised as being small (viz. micro-firms and SMEs), knowledge intensive (largely graduate staff), research intensive (mean spend on R&D GBP 842k), and internationalised (mainly selling to markets beyond Europe). Preliminary statistical evidence is presented on Gibrat’s Law (independence of growth and size) and the Schumpeterian Hypothesis (scale economies in R&D). Estimates suggest a short-run equilibrium size of just 100 employees, but a long-run equilibrium size of 1000 employees. Further, to achieve the Schumpeterian effect (of marked scale economies in R&D), estimates suggest that firms have to grow to very much larger sizes of beyond 3,000 employees. We argue that the principal way of achieving the latter scale may need to be by takeovers and mergers, rather than by internally driven growth.

Building high technology complete products for the markets of humanitarian organizations and developing countries

Tämä tutkielma käsittelee high-tech kokonaisratkaisun rakentamista kehitysmaiden ja humanitääristen organisaatioiden markkinoille. Tavoitteena on löytää ne komponentit joita case-yritys Mediburner Ltd:n polttouuni tarvitsee rinnalleen. Jotta täydentävien elementtien määritteleminen olisi mahdollista, pitää ensin selvittää keitä ovat asiakkaat, ja mitkä ovat heidän tarpeensa. Tutkimusmetodina käytetään kuvailevaa case-tutkimusta. Empiirinen materiaali kerättiin henkilökohtaisissa- ja puhelinkeskusteluissa. Niihin henkilöihin, joiden tavoittaminen oli aikaeron vuoksi hankalaa, otettiin yhteyttä sähköpostitse. Toinen tietolähde olivat dokumentit. Tutkielmassa käytettiin internetsivuja, sairaalajätehuoltoon liittyvien kansainvälisten konferenssien ja kenttätutkimusten raportteja sekä humanitääristen organisaatioiden suosituksia ja lehdistötiedotteita. Tulokseksi saatiin kymmenen tarvittavaa tukevien elementtien ryhmää: lisälaitteet, astiat jätteen keräilyyn ja tilapäiseen varastointiin, polttoaine, sähkö, logistiset ratkaisut, asennus ja käyttöönotto, huolto- ja korjauspalvelut, koulutus, help-desk –palvelu ja rahoitus. Lisäksi tarvitaan imago, joka konkretisoi tarjotun ratkaisun hyödyt. Yksi toimivan imagotyylin perusta voisi olla vastuullisuus.

Marketing in support of sales in industrial high technology company

The aim of this study is to find out how Metso Paper’s marketing could better support sales and how sales people are executing marketing during the sales processes. This study is done from sales people’s point of view. The study is limited to cover only company’s internal environment. This research was executed through literature review and qualitative theme interviews, where 20 of Metso Paper’s sales people were interviewed. The interviewees were asked to tell their opinions about marketing’s support, marketing materials, information and the relationship between sales and marketing. The results of this study show that the relationship between marketing and sales is rather good, but there is still a great need for improvements. It is hoped that marketing would take more part in the selling processes. In addition, more information about the launches and schedules were also hoped for. Marketing is told to be quite Finland centric and sales people are wishing for more adopted marketing materials and occasions. It came up during the interviews, that sales people are not so willing to give regular feedback to marketing and quite often they think that marketing’s role in Metso Paper is not important at all.

Rediscovering profitability in entrepreneurship : evidence from Finnish high-technology start-ups

Denna avhandling utmanar sambandet mellan tillväxt och lönsamhet. Lönsamhet, som borde vara företagens största prioritet har nästan totalt försvunnit från entreprenörskapsfältet. Istället har den blivit ersatt av en fokus på tillväxt och framförallt hög tillväxt. Den nuvarande allmänna normen verkar vara att tillväxt blint prioriteras över lönsamhet. Detta beror på det förvrängda sambandet mellan tillväxt och lönsamhet; antagandet att hög tillväxt förr eller senare kommer att leda till hög lönsamhet. Således ses tillväxt som ett mått på ett företags framgång och som ett mål värt att eftersträva. Det har blivit fokuset i allmän media och entreprenörskapsforskning, något beslutfattarna försöker stöda och uppmuntra, entreprenörerna vill uppnå och finansiärerna vill skapa. Allt detta, oftast på bekostnad av lönsamhet. Denna avhandling strävar efter att få en ändring på detta genom att utmana denna nuvarande norm. Avhandlingens empiriska del fokuserar sig på nya finska högteknologiföretag inom bio- och IT-branschen. Tillväxtfenomenet studeras i tre olika kontexter: forskningen (en analys på 118 artiklar i ledande entreprenörskaps och managementjournaler), praktiken (en finansiell analys på 1039 nya företag) och bland intressenternas perspektiv (23 intervjuer med entreprenörer, beslutsfattare, offentliga finansiärer och riskfinansiärer). Resultaten bekräftar en stark förvrängning av tillväxt och lönsamhet inom de tre studerade kontexterna. Den finansiella analysen bekräftar resultaten av senare forskning och visar att lönsamhet, istället för tillväxt, är förutsättningen för fortsatt lönsam tillväxt. Resultaten stämmer oberoende av företagens ålder. Det visas även att en ändring i strategisk position är osannolik och mycket svår att genomföra. Detta lyfter fram nödvändigheten för startade företag att fokusera sig på rätt saker genast från start; skapandet av en lönsam affärsmodell.