Kellogg on Technology and Innovation

Book Editors - Ranjay Gulati & Mohanbir Sawhney.
Book Summary by - Vivek Gupta,
Faculty Member,ICMR Case Studies and Management Resources.

About the Editors:

Ranjay Gulati is Michael L. Nemmers Distinguished Professor of Electronic Commerce and Technology at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Mohanbir Sawhney is McCormick Tribune Professor of Technology and Chair of the Technology Industry Management Program at Kellogg. Anthony Paoni is Clinical Professor of Technology at Kellogg.

Book Snapshot

The book analyzes the new technologies being introduced in the IT market. Starting from the semiconductor industry to the biotechnology sector, the book provides in-depth analysis to its readers on how these sectors are being transformed by emerging technologies including technical views, market analysis, information about industry players and value chain analysis. The book covers in detail about the wireless technologies and its applications. It also explains about new wireless technologies like Bluetooth and location-based technologies.

Abstract

Organizations have to thoroughly understand the role of new technologies in their respective industries and also make efforts to continuously adopt these technologies. In the recent years, the emerging wireless technologies have changed the way of doing business in several industries and organizations. The new wireless technologies like location based services and Bluetooth will be serving niche markets. However, it will take a longer time to make these wireless technologies as technologies for general-purpose applications.

Book Summary

For venture capitalists, the matter of hot debate has been what went wrong with the majority of start-up companies, which closed down during the dotcom bust.

Some analysts felt that most of the companies were fighting in a market with a limited potential and hence they were not able to cope up with the competition. Other reasons include the lack of proper information about the concerned industry, its latest trends and future needs of markets as well as customers. The other major factor, which cannot be ruled out, was understanding of new technologies and its various applications. Most of the companies in several industries, which failed, could not understand the technology well and therefore were not able to design their strategies for future operations. Let us examine the semiconductor and wireless industries and understand the impact of new technologies for them.

Semiconductor Industry

With a significant increase in computing power, which has been lead by Intel chips all customers including business, individuals and research scientists are enjoying its benefits. According to the analysts, new technologies are emerging which could take over the old silicon chips and significantly increase the chip computing power. These technologies are more powerful and can create a niche area for themselves. However, it will take many years before they become the technology for general purpose. These technologies are:

Quantum Computing:

Based on the quantum bits, which can be zero or one at the same time, this branch of computing can reduce the processing time significantly in compared to the time taken by silicon chips. With the extraordinary engineering challenges, quantum computing still has to find the place for it becoming general-purpose computing.

DNA Computing:

Based on the DNA, which can be used to store information, this computing still has to evolve to a large extent. Still in nascent stage, DNA computing is the best for combinational problems.

Nanotubes:

In this case, semiconductors replace the carbon molecules. As the molecules are very small in size, these are the perfect for general-purpose computing. With the research going on to remove the flaws, this technology will still take time to be introduced in the market.

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Wireless Value Chain

Applications of Location Technology