Today's global economy is, to a large extent, driven by
technological innovation. The list of even basic industries that
technology is changing is vast, and includes industries such as
automobiles, oil and gas, and consumer foods. While some might believe
that these industries are more "low-tech" than "high
tech," innovations are revolutionizing them. Standard marketing
approaches and traditional tools may not be sufficient for these
high-tech products and, therefore, new approaches and new tools
are necessary. This chapter covers:
- The wide variety of arenas where technology affects business
in today’s economy;
- Various ways to define high-technology;
- Characteristics common to high-tech industries;
- The vital impact of network externalities and its implications
for setting industry standards in high-tech industry;
- Technological developments at different levels in the
supply chain;
- A continuum of innovations, and discusses characteristics
of and differences between breakthrough/radical vs. incremental
innovations;
- Develops a contingency theory of high-tech marketing,
in which the type of marketing used must be matched to the type
of innovation (radical versus incremental) in order to achieve
new product success;
- Presents a framework for high-technology marketing decisions
(which provides an overview of the layout of the book), and examples
of each of the factors in the framework;
- Discusses job opportunities in high-technology industries,
including employment projections in high-tech through 2010.
The chapter’s opening vignette highlights some of the
new technologies from the 2004 Consumer Electronics Trade Show (CES)
that are putting some 'excitement back in tech’ (after the
technology downturn of 2000-2002).
The chapter’s technology
tidbit deals with flying personal transportation (the SkyCar)
made by Moller International.
The chapter’s technology expert is:
Darlene Solomon, the Vice President and
Director of Agilent Labs, the research arm of the Agilent Technologies
Corporation. (Many people may not realize that when Hewlett Packard
split into two companies in the late 90s, Agilent was the company
spin-off that focuses on medical and scientific instrumentation,
rather than the computing side of the business). Her ‘View
from the Trenches’ highlights the critical issues faced
in pursuing breakthrough innovations.
The appendix to the chapter provides an outline for a marketing
plan.
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