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Book Review By Azhar Kazmi

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 Technovation 23 (2003) 279–280
www.elsevier.com/locate/technovation

Book review

Management of technology ing a framework for formulating technology manage-

By Zafar Hussain, Sushil & R.D. Pathak, Anmol Publi- ment strategies.
cations, New Delhi 2001; Pages 433+viii; references, The issues, quite a mouthful though, guiding the
and two appendices research on strategic management technology have been
identified as below:
Technology is often the critical success factor in stra-
tegic management of organizations. It brings with itself
앫 Management of technology as a core management
a promise of great commercial achievement as well as
function
a lot of risks. Developing and assimilating a new tech-
앫 Technological alliances
nology or improving upon the existing one is a task that
앫 Competitiveness
all progressive organizations do continually. The
앫 Technology planning for survival and growth
authors – all three of them eminently qualified to
앫 Technology assessment
research into the issue, share their findings, and propose
앫 Technology forecasting
a framework – choose the automobile industry in a
앫 In-house technology development
developing nation, India, for writing on the management
앫 Adoption of innovations and new technologies
of technology. Both these choices are exciting: the auto-
앫 Technology absorption
mobile industry is considered as the engine of economic
앫 Innovation culture
growth while developing nations like China and India
앫 Technology transfer models
are the emerging, attractive markets for several business
앫 Indigenization of acquired technology
firms in the developed world.
앫 Vendor development
Post-liberalization, from 1991 onwards, several multi-
앫 Technology strategy and its integration with corporate
national automobile companies made a beeline for the
business strategy
Indian market. The sheer size of the market was mind-
앫 Balancing the technology push and market pull
boggling. A population of more than a billion people,
앫 Technology status
an attractively large size of the middle-income class –
앫 Technology acquisition from different sources
variously estimated between 150 – 300 million people –
앫 Environmental concerns in technology management
and a vast geographical area to be traversed if people
앫 Investment in technology
have to remain mobile. Socio-economic factors such as
앫 Exploitation by technology providers
an increasing propensity to travel, gradual improvement
앫 Technology waste
in the road infrastructure, and the continuing exodus
앫 Strategic flexibility
from the rural to the urban areas stretching the contours
앫 Flexibility in technological innovations
of the already-bulging cities and towns made the foreign
앫 Technology acquisition flexibility
carmakers salivate at the prospects. But there were quite
앫 Organizational flexibility
a few jolts to be suffered. The Indian auto-market was
unlike those in the developed nations. For instance, the
Indian middle-class was different from how the west-
erners perceived and defined their own middle-class. The The methodology used for study is what the authors
Indian car buyers proved to be quite tough to handle call the “flexible systems methodology”. This approach
and difficult to please. All these factors made the Indian seems to be quite sophisticated and an understanding of
automobile industry an enigma. The book under review the methodology is clearly not for the faint-hearted or
opens a facet to that enigma. the uninitiated. A liberal use of statistical methodologies
The book focuses on the management of technology such as univariate analysis, Pearson’s product moment
in the Indian automobile industry. More specifically, it correlation, principal component factor analysis, step-
concentrates on the strategic aspects of management of wise multiple regression analysis, and multiple discrim-
technology. The objectives include the preliminary sur- inant analysis have been made. It would be better for an
vey of strategic technology management practices, automobile technology manager, for instance, reading
identification of the factors contributing to the effective- this book to ignore the finer points of the methodology
ness of technology management strategies, and propos- and concentrate on the ultimate findings. But the meth-
280 Book review / Technovation 23 (2003) 279–280
odology could certainly prove to be an academician or
researcher’s delight.
The research process follows an elaborate three-stage
model: pilot study and a macro study followed by a
micro study. The exploratory pilot study, based on seven
non-random case studies of Indian companies, helps in
uncovering the issues that have been listed above. The
macro study takes up the automobile industry and delin-
eates two categories of issues: active transfer of tech-
nology and collaborations. The active transfer of tech-
nology takes up Maruti Udyog Limited (joint venture
with Suzuki of Japan), Hero Honda Motors, and Kinetic
Honda Motors Limited. The collaborations issues have
been researched in Tata Engineering and Locomotive
Company Limited, Eicher Motors Limited and Hindus-
tan Motors Limited – Passenger Car Division. Drawing
from the learning issues identified in the pilot study and
the macro study, the research goes into a detailed investi-
gation of Hero Honda Motors Limited that the authors
refer to as the micro study. An interesting aspect here is
that action research is applied using a system dynamics
model to identify leverage points and generate scenarios
for the company. This framework comes in handy as the
authors, in consultation with the top management of the
company, evolve a technology strategy for implemen-
tation.
A question of interest to managers could be: What is
effective management of technology management func-
tion? And how is it to be done? The authors offer some
lessons from their micro study. Effective management
of technology means having an integrated view of man-
aging technology just like any other managerial function.
For making technology management there are three
issues to consider. First, there has to be top manage-
ment’s commitment for formulation and implementation
of technology strategy. Secondly, every component of
technology management must have a separate strategy to
provide clarity on the firm’s present and future agenda.
Thirdly, there has to be an inter-relationship among tech-
nology management function with manufacturing, mar-
keting, and information technology functions.
The book investigates the relationship of effective
technology strategy with corporate performance and the
View publication stats
flexibility in technology strategy with effectiveness of
the same. It comes up with several suggested actions
worth noting. For instance, it suggests that a strategic
architecture is required for cultivating core com-
petencies, the technology absorption time has to be
reduced, and a comprehensive technology strategy has
to be formulated. Such a strategy needs to be specified
in terms of technology development, acquisition, absorp-
tion, indigenization, innovation, phase-out, transfer,
commercialization, and investments in technology.
One would tend to agree with the authors that their
work certainly enhances understanding of the strategic
technology management practices, problems, and aspir-
ations of the companies in the Indian automobile indus-
try. It can be added that the book offers an insight into
an area that has lacked much rigorous, empirical research
especially in the context of developing countries. Thus,
the book attempts to cover a significant gap in knowl-
edge in the area of management of technology.
The book has the necessary features of a list of refer-
ences that has more than 250 sources listed making it
a veritable source of information for researchers. Two
appendices explain the methodology and research mat-
ters. The printing quality is appropriate not forgetting
that it is published in a developing country and at a price
of just about US $20 is well worth the matter it provides.
Yet, this low-priced book comes with some glaring typo-
graphical errors that would have been avoided through
careful editing.
Technology policy planners in companies worldwide,
managers in automobile industry especially in
developing countries, academicians and researchers in
the discipline of technology management, learners in
creativity and innovation and the general reader inter-
ested in the subject will find the book useful. It could
serve as a good reference book for graduate and post-
graduate courses in technology management as well.
Azhar Kazmi,
International Islamic University Malaysia, Department
of Business Administration, 53100 Jalan Gombak,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
doi:10.1016/S0166-4972(02)00167-0