MEM Technology & Innovation Management 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A technology roadmap serves which primary function in engineering management?
- Replacing the annual budget process for R&D departments
- Aligning technology development timelines with market needs and business strategy over a multi-year horizon (Correct answer)
- Documenting completed innovation projects for audit purposes
- Automating project scheduling through AI tools
Correct answer: Aligning technology development timelines with market needs and business strategy over a multi-year horizon
Technology roadmaps visualize the links between market drivers, product requirements, and enabling technologies across time, supporting strategic alignment and resource planning.
Question 2: The 'exploration vs. exploitation' dilemma in organizational learning refers to the tension between:
- Hiring external talent versus promoting from within
- Searching for new knowledge and capabilities versus leveraging existing ones for efficiency (Correct answer)
- Domestic versus international R&D investment
- Short-term profits versus long-term capital expenditure
Correct answer: Searching for new knowledge and capabilities versus leveraging existing ones for efficiency
March (1991) identified this trade-off: too much exploitation leads to competency traps, while too much exploration results in failure to capture returns from innovations.
Question 3: Which of the following best describes 'user innovation' as studied by Eric von Hippel?
- Innovation driven entirely by corporate R&D labs responding to user surveys
- Innovation carried out by product users themselves, often shared freely with others (Correct answer)
- Innovation commissioned and funded by end consumers via crowdsourcing platforms
- Innovation that only occurs in consumer markets, not industrial B2B settings
Correct answer: Innovation carried out by product users themselves, often shared freely with others
Von Hippel found that many major innovations originate with lead users who modify products for their own needs and often share those innovations freely.
Question 4: A 'skunkworks' project in innovation management is characterized by:
- A large cross-functional team with full executive visibility and formal reporting structures
- A small, autonomous team operating outside normal organizational constraints to accelerate innovation (Correct answer)
- An externally funded startup spun out from the parent company
- A joint venture with a direct competitor to develop shared technology
Correct answer: A small, autonomous team operating outside normal organizational constraints to accelerate innovation
Skunkworks teams (e.g., Lockheed's Advanced Development Projects) operate with unusual autonomy, speed, and informal processes to develop breakthrough products.
Question 5: In the context of innovation ecosystems, 'complementary assets' (Teece) are important because:
- They eliminate the need for formal intellectual property protection
- A firm needs access to assets like manufacturing, distribution, and service capabilities to successfully commercialize an innovation (Correct answer)
- Complementors always share profits equally with the innovator
- They reduce R&D cycle time by providing testing infrastructure
Correct answer: A firm needs access to assets like manufacturing, distribution, and service capabilities to successfully commercialize an innovation
Teece's framework shows that without control over complementary assets, innovators can lose returns to firms with superior manufacturing, marketing, or distribution capabilities.
Question 6: What is the primary difference between a 'push' and a 'pull' model of technology transfer?
- Push is faster; pull is more cost-effective for all technology types
- Push is driven by technology availability seeking applications; pull is driven by market needs seeking technical solutions (Correct answer)
- Push applies only to government labs; pull applies only to private firms
- Push involves licensing; pull involves acquisition in all cases
Correct answer: Push is driven by technology availability seeking applications; pull is driven by market needs seeking technical solutions
Technology push starts from an invention looking for a use, while market pull starts from an identified need driving the search for a technical solution.
Question 7: When using the Ansoff matrix to guide technology-based growth strategy, 'product development' means:
- Selling existing products to new geographic markets
- Creating new products for existing markets where the firm already competes (Correct answer)
- Entering entirely new markets with entirely new products
- Reducing the product portfolio to focus on core offerings
Correct answer: Creating new products for existing markets where the firm already competes
The product development quadrant involves innovation to create new or improved products for the firm's existing customer base and market.
MEM Technology & Innovation Management 5
A technology roadmap serves which primary function in engineering management?