Technology Integration: How to Think Several Moves Ahead of the Competition

By Marco Iansiti

Book Overview

Illustrates the process of technology integration at the managerial and strategic levels and reveals the evolution in the structure of research and development in the modern corporation. This book provides a framework for managing the space between the creation and the application of technology.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0875847870
• ISBN13: 9780875847870
• Release Date: November 1997
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Its all about the Domain/Context

This book is great at covering a number of topics: 1) An overview of the current state of Research and Development and how it works 2) Backing up what it says about R & D with interviews into some of the big players in the IT industry 3) Giving a functional solution to how you should integrate teams and efforts I would say my favorite take away from this book is the separation of knowledge into two types: Domain and Context. I think the book should have elaborated more on this subject. For other readers who have read The Keystone Advantage, this book is written in different style. There are numerous references to regression analysis and altogether has a research feel to it.

Very good. Concepts on integration are compelling.

This book highlights several key concepts on successful and unsuccessful approaches to integrating product features in the high tech arena. Despite the fact that some of the statistical analysis was over my head, I found the book readable and insightful. The depth of research is impressive. I recommend this book to anyone in the software or hardware industry.

A great book for people working in high-tech

This book was handed to me by the president of our company about five months ago, with the instructions, "Read this. I think it will change the way we build software." Turns out he was right.The basic tenet of this book is that, in a rapidly changing and uncertain environment, companies must delay basic technology decisions as long as possible in order to best understand the context in which their product will be used. Changes in context can (i.e., new technologies, changing market requirements, competitive products) can take a product with killer potential and turn it into a market flop within weeks. This applies to manufacturing and system design as well as my industry, software, and was something that we ourselves had experienced.Iansiti's writing style is fairly dry, and the exhaustive statistical analysis of his research can be, well, exhausting. I found myself skimming the middle of almost every chapter while he proved his points, so I could get to the good stuff: the case studies. Iansiti had access to Microsoft, Netscape, and Silicon Graphics, among other notable names, and his studies of successful and unsuccessful approaches to technology integration vividly illustrated the effect that a flexible decision-making process can have on a company's success, both in individual projects and in the market as a whole.I used the basic principles Iansiti put forth and the case studies that he used to support them as a basis for redesigning my company's entire development process. We now have reduced the time-to-market for new features from over six months to less than two, and we are finding that our clients are happier and our products are seeing more success in the market as a result.I highly recommend this book to anyone who is scrambling to keep up with today's rapidly changing high-tech environment. It will make you take a hard look at the way you do business.