Threat and Opportunity Analysis in Technological Development

Globalisation of competition and the accelerating rate of technology change set difficult challenges for advanced technology-based industries in the new millennium. Companies in these industries must now continually reduce costs and develop better products and services in order to sustain a competitive advantage in an endlessly changing business environment. High research and development (R&D) costs force high technology companies to select more carefully which technologies to invest in. Technologies are introduced into a company in order to make a positive contribution to its products and services. Companies need technology planning in order to make better decisions with regard to strategic corporate planning, R&D management, product development, production and marketing. In this paper, we describe a technology planning support function that is used to analyse relevant information from various sources in order to optimise the impact of technological developments on the business and avoid threats that come from both within and outside the sector/industry. This function highlights possible threats and so helps planners and decision makers in making the right decision before the anticipated problem occurs