Technology Integration: Making Critical Choices in a Dynamic World

Description

How did Microsoft decide what technologies to use when it created Windows95? According to this groundbreaking new book, it is technology integration-the process of choosing from a rich palette of technologies those that will make a product work seamlessly and reliably-that is a critical element to launching successful new products. The result of a six-year study of the major players in the computer industry-including Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Netscape, Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems, and Toshiba-the book illustrates the process of technology integration at the managerial and strategic levels and reveals the significant evolution in the structure of research and development in the modern corporation. Iansiti demonstrates convincingly that the ability to leverage new science and technology effectively is inextricably linked to the firm's ability to imagine how a multitude of emerging technological possibilities can be used to define a product that makes business sense. Technology Integration challenges the way traditional R&D organizations should work and provides a new and relevant framework for actively managing the space between the creation and the application of technology. The Management of Innovation and Change Series.

Marco Iansiti is an HBS professor and the co-chair of Harvard's PhD program in Information Technology Management.