A framework of practices supporting the reuse of technological knowledge

Technology-intensive companies invest considerable of resources in product development to bring competitive products to market. Since market demand is continuously changing, the capability to renew offerings quickly and at low cost is an important source of competitive advantage. Even if components and designs may need to be updated when releasing new products, their underlying technologies and designs can usually be reused to enable fast and cost-efficient development. To be proficient in practices that support reuse of technologies thus constitutes an important organizational capability, but identifying and assessing these practices has not been a straightforward task for technology developers and managers. This paper presents a literature review regarding technology reuse in four main dimensions; Strategy, Process, Culture, and Information Technology. The dimensions are further decomposed into a framework with twelve principles that supports this technology reuse capability, including technology platform strategy and reusability assessment. Besides providing a theoretical overview of practices supporting the reuse of technology, the framework can also be used in practice to facilitate the assessment of the current reuse capability of an organization. Industrial cases, illustrating real technology development issues, are used to highlight the principles of the framework. Further, a self-assessment scorecard is demonstrated with data from two companies that develop and manufacture high-tech products.

[1]  Robert Phaal,et al.  Technology roadmapping—A planning framework for evolution and revolution , 2004 .

[2]  Dag Henrik Bergsjö,et al.  TERA – An Assessment of Technology Reuse Feasibility☆ , 2015 .

[3]  David Probert,et al.  Engineering reuse: a framework for improving performance , 2000, Proceedings of the 2000 IEEE International Conference on Management of Innovation and Technology. ICMIT 2000. 'Management in the 21st Century' (Cat. No.00EX457).

[4]  Pieter Groenveld.  Roadmapping Integrates Business and Technology , 1997 .

[5]  M. Lynne Markus,et al.  Toward A Theory of Knowledge Reuse : Types of Knowledge Reuse Situations and Factors in Reuse Success , 2022 .

[6]  Steven C. Wheelwright,et al.  Revolutionizing Product Development: Quantum Leaps in Speed, Efficiency and Quality , 1992 .

[7]  Marc H. Meyer,et al.  The Power of Product Platforms , 1997 .

[8]  Mohanbir Sawhney,et al.  Leveraged high-variety strategies: From portfolio thinking to platform thinking , 1998 .

[9]  Jordi Molas-Gallart,et al.  Which way to go? Defence technology and the diversity of 'dual-use' technology transfer , 1997 .

[10]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Central problems in the management of innovation , 1986 .

[11]  Rikard Söderberg,et al.  An integrated approach to technology platform and product platform development , 2013, Concurr. Eng. Res. Appl..

[12]  E. Jayakiran Reddy,et al.  Knowledge Based Engineering: Notion, Approaches and Future Trends , 2015 .

[13]  Robert Phaal,et al.  A framework for supporting the management of technological knowledge , 2004, Int. J. Technol. Manag..

[14]  Robert Phaal,et al.  Technology re-use: developing a practical approach to making the most of your technological assets , 2001 .

[15]  Amer Catic.  Knowledge-based Engineering in Product Development Processes - Process, IT and Knowledge Management perspectives , 2011 .

[16]  Bou-Wen Lin,et al.  Corporate Technology Portfolios and R&D Performance Measures: A Study of Technology Intensive Firms , 2005 .

[17]  Rias Johann Van Wyk,et al.  Technology assessment for portfolio managers , 2010 .

[18]  I. Nonaka.  A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[19]  Robert Cooper,et al.  Managing technology development projects , 2006, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[20]  D. Leonard-Barton,et al.  Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation , 1995 .

[21]  Ove Granstrand,et al.  Towards a theory of the technology-based firm 1 Paper originally presented at the workshop on `Techn , 1998 .

[22]  Emmett W. Eldred,et al.  Commercializing New Technology—I , 1997 .

[23]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  On knowledge reuse for manufacturing systems design and planning: A semantic technology approach , 2015 .

[24]  Don Clausing,et al.  Total Quality Development , 1993 .

[25]  Robert Kevin Grigsby.  "Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation" , 1996 .

[26]  A. R. Shapiro.  Measuring Innovation: Beyond Revenue From New Products , 2006 .

[27]  Joseph H. Saleh,et al.  Flexibility: a multi-disciplinary literature review and a research agenda for designing flexible engineering systems , 2009 .

[28]  Ann Majchrzak,et al.  Factors affecting shapers of organizational wikis , 2010, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[29]  M. Mcgrath.  Product Strategy for High Technology Companies , 2000 .

[30]  Marc H. Meyer,et al.  Does Product Platforming Pay Off , 2018 .

[31]  Nicole Fruehauf.  Product Platform And Product Family Design Methods And Applications , 2016 .

[32]  Daniel E. Hastings,et al.  Defining changeability: Reconciling flexibility, adaptability, scalability, modifiability, and robustness for maintaining system lifecycle value , 2008, Syst. Eng..

[33]  Alex H. B. Duffy,et al.  A design reuse model , 1995 .

[34]  Jan Youtie,et al.  The evolving state-of-the-art in technology transfer research: Revisiting the contingent effectiveness model , 2015 .

[35]  K. Hewett,et al.  A Multi-Theoretical Model of Knowledge Transfer in Organizations: Determinants of Knowledge Contribution and Knowledge Reuse , 2006 .

[36]  C. Prahalad,et al.  The Core Competence of the Corporation , 1990 .

[37]  Subhash Wadhwa,et al.  Flexibility: an emerging meta-competence for managing high technology , 2000, Int. J. Technol. Manag..

[38]  Dennis Nobelius,et al.  Linking product development to applied research: transfer experiences from an automotive company , 2004 .

[39]  Peter Heisig,et al.  Harmonisation of knowledge management - comparing 160 KM frameworks around the globe , 2009, J. Knowl. Manag..

[40]  E. Wenger,et al.  Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier , 2000 .

[41]  Jeremy Busby.  The Problem with Design Reuse: An Investigation into Outcomes and Antecedents , 1999 .

[42]  Paul R. Steffens,et al.  Valuing Technology Investments: Use Real Options Thinking But Forget Real Options Valuation , 2007 .

[43]  K. Ulrich,et al.  Planning for Product Platforms , 1998 .

[44]  Robert J. Cloutier,et al.  Applying the concept of patterns to systems architecture , 2007, Syst. Eng..

[45]  J. Linton,et al.  Analysis, ranking and selection of R&D projects in a portfolio , 2002 .

[46]  Craig Standing,et al.  How can organizations use wikis for innovation , 2011 .

[47]  Keith Warfield,et al.  Technology readiness levels , 2016 .

[48]  Armin P. Schulz,et al.  Design for changeability (DfC): Principles to enable changes in systems throughout their entire lifecycle , 2005, Syst. Eng..

[49]  Armin P. Schulz,et al.  Development and integration of winning technologies as key to competitive advantage , 2000 .

[50]  M. Nieto,et al.  Basic propositions for the study of the technological innovation process in the firm , 2004 .

[51]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Book review:Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak. Harvard Business School Press, 1998. $29.95US. ISBN 0‐87584‐655‐6 , 1998 .

[52]  Douglas C. Schmidt,et al.  Using design patterns to develop reusable object-oriented communication software , 1995, CACM.

[53]  Daniel E. Hastings,et al.  Defining changeability: Reconciling flexibility, adaptability, scalability, modifiability, and robustness for maintaining system lifecycle value , 2008 .

[54]  Irene J. Petrick,et al.  Roadmapping as a mitigator of uncertainty in strategic technology choice , 2005 .

[55]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  The myopia of learning , 1993 .

[56]  Zahed Siddique,et al.  Product Platform and Product Family Design , 2006 .

[57]  Jonas Andersson,et al.  Identifying Barriers to Agile Technology Roadmapping , 2019 .

[58]  Tony Holden,et al.  Knowledge Re-Use as Engineering Re-Use: Extracting Values from Knowledge Management , 2000, PAKM.

[59]  Jintae Lee,et al.  Design Rationale Systems: Understanding the Issues , 1997, IEEE Expert.

[60]  Robert A. Burgelman,et al.  Cutting the Strategy Diamond in High-Technology Ventures , 2008 .

[61]  John M. Colombi,et al.  A More Flexible Approach to Valuing Flexibility , 2011 .

[62]  T. Davis.  Adopting a policy of reuse , 1994, IEEE Spectrum.

[63]  Ellen Thomas,et al.  TYPE OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND ITS IMPACT ON COLLABORATIVE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT , 2017 .

[64]  Donovan R. Hardenbrook,et al.  Ready, Set, Dominate: Implement Toyota's Set-Based Learning for Developing Products and Nobody Can Catch You! by Michael Kennedy, Kent Harmon, and Ed Minnock , 2009 .

[65]  Alex H. B. Duffy,et al.  Re-using knowledge : why, what and where , 2001 .