Integrating Technology and Management: Strategic Choices for Modern Enterprises

Author: Liu Haibo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: Innovations in technical management; the strategic significance of the Chief Technology Officer; the generation and role of technical roadmaps; technology mergers and acquisitions and the development of corporate innovation capabilities; technical management in China: technical management or technical operations.
Companies do not treat science and technology as equal. Businesses are more concerned with technology because it can bring profits, viewing it as an asset. Their interest in science is an extension of their interest in technology, aimed at better understanding technology. This clearly explains why companies first cut back on basic research spending, merge or disband basic research institutions, and stop hiring basic researchers during economic downturns.
Although we commonly refer to both high technology and new technology as "high-tech," they are not the same. A clear example is the widely used and common geothermal heating technology in South Korea, which does not fit any definition of high technology but is considered a new technology for most regions in our country. In northern China, companies adopting this technology have already achieved good returns.
When we view technology from an operational perspective, the relationships between science, technology, the economy, and operations become clear, establishing the role of businesses as the main body of innovation and stabilizing the integration points and mechanisms between science and technology and economic development. Between technology and operations, the theory of technical operations has emerged, offering not just a framework for organizing facts but also a method for observing things and tools for solving problems.