Product and Market Strategies in Relation to Research Development Program - Assignment Example

of Affiliation Introduction Technology management is a fundamental aspect in offsetting the risks of new technology and at thesame time acquiring the operational benefits that come along with a properly managed technology. Managing a new technology needs a thorough knowledge of business technology management. In addition, the managers should understand the best ways of achieving efficiency internally through applying new technology. There is immense pressure on today’s corporate managers in their bid to maximize short-term gains, which compels them to invest more in research and development. This essay seeks to examine the use of research and development program in enhancing the operations of the firm in line with the firm’s strategy (Jacques & Fabrizio, 2014). As a point of departure, management of technology consists of management of research, products and development of processes. In essence, research development aims at expanding the company’s grasp of science and engineering skills and its relevant applications. Effective technological management needs integration of the process development and manufacturing engineering (Jacques & Fabrizio, 2014). This aspect of integration is common in the Japanese industries and it is immensely attributed to high-level manufacturability, with cost and quality effectiveness. Product and market strategies in relation to research development program Managing an R&D program in an efficient manner, a company must have a coherent product and market strategy. It is realizable that, the level of strategic attentiveness in one or more product- market. For instance, the strategic focus of the R&D program in managing the technological processes of the firm is to increased improvements in value, performance, quality and cost (Jacques & Fabrizio, 2014). This brings the difference between manual or physical firms’ strategy sustenance and the technologically sustained. The technologically based strategy management contributes immensely to the achieving of the firm’s objectives and helping in sustaining the market share and profit margins and this leads to high cash flows thus creating a competitive edge in the market niche. On the same note, the R&D program plays a fundamental role in replacing an existing product with a new one in the market. The role entails immense depths of improving functionality and lowering cost. In comparison with the manual replacement and managing of a replacement process, the technologically based management system oversees a smooth transition and ensures that, the rest of processes in the firm are not disrupted (Mario, Margherita &Massimo, 2013). This follows that, the R&D programs helps managers to understand the market mix factors through the information provided, hence ensures upward trend of a firm in terms of efficiency, profits and cost effectiveness. Another instance, where the R&D program helps managers to enhance effective running of firms is the aspect of applying the technological attributes to meet the demands of the market. In most cases, markets are so dynamic and it requires a clear-cut knowledge on the dynamism exhibited in the market niche of a particular firm in order to meet the needs of both existing market and new markets. This program is fundamental in this aspect. Through the information collected through surveys, the firm’s management team easily understands the requirements of the markets (Jacques & Fabrizio, 2014). It is should be noted that, the overall outcome expected from the application of these technological management practices is to enable the firm achieve a clear-cut competitive impact and maturity. A strong competitive technological composition is one aspect of a company trending upwards. Sensibly, the fundamental aspect for the success of the R& D management is to invest adequately in ensuring that competitive edge is sustained. On the other hand, pacing of this technology is significant in all sense, as it remains the sole criteria of differentiating both the leaders in the market in terms of firms and products. There is need to balance the technology management with other attributed support key technologies to uphold current competitive position and through pacing with the aim of creating future vitality. It is imperative to note that most firms drag in implementing perfect means of pacing the technologies because of either lack of information or capital. Pacing is an expensive aspect of ensuring that a R&D program works well in conjunction with the management strategy to ensure high level of investment management, particularly in a bid to meet the demands of the market. An effective R& D program should include investment to construct a central competence in pacing technologies and aspects of efforts intended to gain intelligence from diverse sources, which include clients, and scientific studies. The competitive technological strength of the firms that practice the R$D management systems can be measured by such attributes as dominant, strong, favourable, tenable and weak. For the case of dominance, the business is technologically a leader and it is attributed to demonstrable commitment to technology and innovativeness. The strength of a firm’s R&D management approach is measured on the effectiveness of the technological support, which allows independent and technical directions. On the other hand, the favourability aspect implies that, the firm with well-established R&D systems has the ability to remain at the competitive edge and consequently, it can sustain continued improvement in the technology (Mario, et al, 2013). On the aspect of tenability, the firm plays the position of a technological follower. This implies that, the firm has to work towards the same level of competitiveness exhibited by the stronger players or competitors in the market niche. Conversely, a weak sense means that a firm’s technical competence is comparatively low and it is mostly aimed at meeting the short-term objectives (Mario, et al, 2013). Classification of the R&D Programs The well known R&D programs include incremental and development, radical, and fundamental research programs. For the case of incremental and development research program, well expressed commercial objectives are outlined and this increases the probability of technical success. The express definition of the objectives follows that the costs and gains of the program are expressly defined (Mario, et al, 2013). This is an example of a key technology used in numerous firms. Equally, the aspect of radical research, bold steps of application of specific pacing technologies is paramount. In most cases a new technology may be introduced in the firm, however, an already established technology is appreciated since, they can be used in a radically manner to ensure the intended objectives are met. On the other hand, the fundamental research is designed to construct a new direction of competence or study the potential significance of a field of scientific knowledge. For instance, if the management team needs to create a new market for its products, then it has to study the market mix factors of the market niche and the overall market to ensure that, in production of the products they meet and satisfy the needs of the clients. This study is fundamental because it gives a detailed background of the expectations of the market, consequently the production of the intended products (Mario, et al, 2013). The fundamental research enables a new entrant into the market to build up its market base and sustain the competitive edge with time. In addition, the ability of the market niche growing is necessitated by the available relevant information, which helps in designing the market strategy. In conclusion, the current information and technology aspect of using the R&D programs in managing firms is critical in enhancing a faster and efficient competitive edge in the market niche. Mangers should ensure that the program is well integrated into the business strategy in order to achieve better results in terms of resources and investment management, efficiency, and cost effectiveness (Mario, et al, 2013) However, to achieve all these, the R&D programs should be made relevant at all times depending on the market dynamism. This should be done through keeping the R&D program personnel in contact with potential clients and market, enable open communication among the program staff, enhance holding of time commitments, and schedules avoiding fads and understanding the purpose for the external linkage. References Jacques .B & Fabrizio. P. (9 January 2014). Integrating sustainability into innovation project portfolio management – A strategic perspective. Journal of Engineering and technology Management, 9, 2014 Mario. F, Margherita. M &Massimo.T. (6 November 2013). Design Management for Sustainability: An integrated approach for the development of sustainable products. Journal of Engineering and technology Management, 6, 2013 Read More