دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی استراتژی فناوری شرکتی و ارتباط آن با استراتژی شرکت های چندملیتی: IKCO - نشریه الزویر

abstract

This article deals with technology strategy and its linkage with overall strategy at multi-business, diversified groups. In the last two decades, the alignment of technology and business strategy has been one of the important research fields in strategy and technology management literature. These researches has been concentrated on single companies through which different frameworks, models, and decision support tools have been developed and widely utilized by industries. Although multi-business and diversified groups play an important role in national economy of developing countries and need a comprehensive and overall plan for the management of their diversified technological capabilities, there is little research focused on corporate-level technology strategy (CTS). This paper introduces a preliminary framework based on literature review, with a deductive approach and content analysis method which tends to more reflect the context of developed countries. Its applicability in a latecomer context has been investigated in practice through a case study in Iran Khodro Company (IKCO)—the largest car manufacturer in the Middle East and a multi-business diversified group in Iran. Based on the proposed framework and through reviewing the related documents and interviewing IKCO senior and middle managers; and using thematic analysis method, we describe and explain how technology strategy is linked to corporate strategy at IKCO. This investigation reflected some mismatches with our initial framework which can be interpreted in a pleasing manner due to IKCO's latecomer context and its position in catch-up path. Process and results of this illustrating study showed that our conceptual framework makes sense as a tool for analyzing CTS in a multibusiness corporation (MBC). Resulted amendments such as highlighting the importance of integration make our modified framework a good basis for further researches.

5. Conclusion

A conceptual framework that includes basic elements of corporatelevel technology strategy and their linkage paths with corporate strategy had been developed through a large survey of related literatures (Arasti et al., 2010). In this paper, we re-discussed that conceptual framework to capture it (with minor modifications) as the basis for an in-depth case study in IKCO industrial group to answer these questions:

• How much the proposed framework does match with what it goes in practice in such an MBC?

• Can we clarify the basic elements and linking paths of CTS with CS in IKCO, like what our initial framework proposed?

Based on its recent technological achievements, Iran has been considered as a developing country in related literatures (Kiamehr et al., 2015). The context of developing countries differs from developed ones in multiple ways (Kiamehr et al., 2015). It brings market-related (Hobday, 1995; Freeman and Soete, 1997; Mathews, 2002) and technological (Hobday, 1995; Mathews, 2002) disadvantages for latecomer firms just to imply to most important ones. This makes latecomer firms different from either leader or follower firms in developed countries who enjoy a better situation to decide on their leader/follower strategy (Mathews, 2002). Thus, they should pursue a catching up path (i.e., approaching the frontier) to improve their situation in business (Lall, 1992; Bell and Pavitt, 1995; Kim, 1997). In order to do this, latecomer firms should accumulate some levels of different capabilities while climbing the staircase of catch-up stages (Abramovitz, 1986; Katz, 1987; Lall, 1992; Amsden and Hikino, 1994; Bell and Pavitt, 1995; Kim, 1997; Figueiredo, 2003). Catch-up stages are also in correspondence with different kinds of innovation, value creation, and firm's knowledge base (Kim, 1997).