Selected Papers Compiled from the Young Summer Scientists, 1986, TES-MTL Activity

Razvigorova, E. (1987). Selected Papers Compiled from the Young Summer Scientists, 1986, TES-MTL Activity. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-87-016

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Abstract

Technological development and its management is a topic which is interesting for all countries, companies, and for many researchers and business people. The aspects of study and interests are very diverse and it is difficult to unite them under one particular subject.

The dynamics of management along the life cycle of technology is a subject which can be analyzed from different aspects with different tools and methods. In times of discontinuity and rapid change, with new technologies available worldwide and globalized, management should be regarded as a small factor for future technological development. How to increase organizational flexibility through different phases of the technological life cycle is important for companies and countries. How to create favorable conditions for developing and implementing new technologies and how to facilitate acceptance of these technologies both inside and outside organizations are objectives and problems of managers worldwide, despite economic systems and the stage of economic development of the country. In search of right answers for these challenges and problems, young scientists from YSSP 86 at IIASA have explored different subjects closely related with the management of technology. Four collaborative papers are presented here which emerged from the young scientists' work during the summer and through which different interests of countries are presented. It is impossible to unite them under one title or connect them by the content and results of the study, but being closely related to a phenomenon called technological development and exploring different aspects of its management, we consider them related and we are trying to present them in one series.

The first study presented is entitled "Management of Technological Development and the Technological Life Cycle (Case of Bulgaria)" by Julia Djarova. Bulgaria has been undertaking a major study in the field of technological development. The study aims to describe and analyze difficulties in accelerating technological development and to make recommendations for improvements in the country's management system. The study described here has been developed in close collaboration with the MTL Research team and is based on the methodology developed for the study. In Bulgaria, extensive research is already underway, using the methodology described in the paper. The main objectives of the author were to develop methodology which will connect Bulgarian study with the IIASA MTL study. The overlapping relations between stages of the process of developing a technology and technological life cycle are used to create a special framework for the analysis.

"Critical Success Factors in Strategic Control Systems" by Margarita Kaisheva is a general concept of strategic management in the TES/MTL activity, based on the hypothesis that strategic management is a management cycle, consisting of different functional activities including strategic control. Kaisheva advocates the importance of strategic control, outlines its main objectives as a sub-system of strategic management of technological development and develops the idea of using critical success factors as criteria and standards in the process of strategic control. The place of strategic control in helping organizations to develop alternatives for its strategy and achieve a high social adaptiveness is considered one of the main features of strategic control. The study suggested and its methodological approach are very promising and challenging; empirical proof will be important in increasing the value of the concept. The concept of strategic control and the use of critical success factors in it could be very useful for management of technology on a company level and will give possibility to create an integrated control system for fulfilling technological strategy of a company.

"Planning and Acquisition of New Technologies" by Gerhard Plasonig is a study which considers the problem of technological development for a small country with predominantly small and medium scale enterprises. Mostly a matter of technological transfer. The paper attempts to make recommendations to Austrian firms, suggesting a systematic procedure for implementing new technologies in an environment of technological availability. The procedure is only hypothesized and empirical proofs will be necessary to make this a real working concept. Two interesting ideas are discussed throughout the paper. The planning process should be carefully organized and prepared within the company. Management should not he separated from the technological process.

The fourth study, by Andrei Sterlin, is entitled "Environmental Analysis for Strategic Technological Planning." Many new technical systems, even in civilian economic sectors, present potential dangers to the environment, and the consequences of their possible disfunction are very difficult to foresee. Strategic technological decisions are thus being made in industrial organizations under conditions of high uncertainty. The soundness of strategic decision would be enhanced by a systemized analysis of business and the technological and social environment of an enterprise. Suitable methodologies for integrating environmental analysis in the field of technological development still appear to be lacking. This paper attempts to address this issue.

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