8. Reasons for Going Solo A firm might choose to engage in solo development of a project for a number of reasons. Availability of Capabilities Protecting Proprietary Technologies Controlling Technology Development and Use (retaining complete control over the firm’s technology development and direction) Building and Renewing Capabilities (develop new skills, resources, and market knowledge)
9. Why for collaboration? A firm may choose its technology mix by means other than internal innovation. This may happen for a variety of reasons such as: The firm’s product line is quickly falling behind that of its competitors. A new competitor enters or is about to enter the market, which will change the dynamics of the industry. The firm discovers its processes are not a efficient and/or effective as those of its competitors. The firm believes its current products or processes are not going to be successful in the future.
10. Collaborative Arrangements Collaboration can include partnering with suppliers, customers, competitors, complementors, organizations that offer similar products in different markets, organizations that offer different products in similar markets, nonprofit organizations, government organizations, universities, and others Collaboration can also be used for many different purposes, including manufacturing, services, marketing, or technology-based objectives. Collaboration arrangements can also take many forms, from vary informal alliances to highly structured joint ventures or technology exchange agreements. The most common forms of collaborative arrangements used in technological innovation include strategic alliances, joint ventures, licensing, outsourcing, and collective research organizations.
11. Strategic Alliance A strategic alliance is a partner of two or more corporations or business units to achieve strategically significant objectives that are mutually beneficial. Thus, a strategic alliance needs to be a relationship in which the strategic advantages outweigh the transaction costs involved with the alliance. Alliances can enhance a firm’s overall level of flexibility. Alliances are also used to enable partners to learn from each other and develop new competencies. Alliance partners may hope to transfer knowledge between the firms or to combine their skills and resources to jointly create new knowledge. Alliance relationships often lack the shared language, routines, and coordination that facilitate the transfer of knowledge- particularly the complex and tacit knowledge to lead to sustainable competitive advantages. To use alliances for learning requires a serious commitment of resources, such as pool of dedicated people willing to travel between the home firm and partner firm, test-bed facilities, and active procedures for internalizing what has been learned. Alliances can be differentiated along several dimensions. These include level of formality, duration, and location.
27. How would the collaboration help the firm overcome its weaknesses?
28. Is the collaboration likely to yield a position of competitive advantage that is difficult for competitors to imitate? Is such a competitive advantage achievable without collaborating?
31. Is the collaboration likely to help the firm close any resource or technology gap between where it is now and where it would like to be?
32. Are the objectives of the collaboration likely to change over time? How are such changes likely to be compatible or incompatible with the firm’s strategic direction?
![Bounded Innovation Jeffrey Phillips describes several ways to “bound” the innovation process in order to improve its focus and productivity in relation to an organization’s strategic objectives. These approaches include: ,[object Object],Start with what you are good at and build out from there. ,[object Object],Study your customers and develop something new to meet their needs. ,[object Object],Define a future state for your market or customers and focus on innovations that support that future state. ,[object Object],This approach can have high risk and high payoff; to work for you, you must be able to take advantage.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)