Anders Drejer

Innovation and learning

Due to external challenges necessitating high degrees of innovation and customisation without sacrificing cost and quality, many industrial firms need to transform their entire approach to product development. Traditionally, industrial firms have adopted a singular approach to product development based on theories that deal with the development of individual products, individual projects and their management, individual designers and developers, and so on. However, in order to mass-customise products and services - whilst, at the same time, standardising and streamlining a product platform internally - it is necessary to transform product development theory and praxis towards a perception called Multiple Product Development.

Organisational learning and competence development

This paper is concerned with the formulation of a framework for understanding the development and change of the competences of firms. Today, there is near universal agreement that the competitiveness of firms rests on the (core) competences that firms possess. However, little attention has been devoted to the notion of competence development. In the paper, it will be argued that there is, indeed, a need for research and management practice of competence development. It will also be argued that organisational learning theory is a key to understanding competence development. Based on this, a model for competence development is proposed. This is the main contribution of the paper. The paper then concludes with a number of questions yet to be answered by research on competence‐based strategy.

Situations for innovation management: towards a contingency model

The need for firms to become more innovative has probably never been greater. Today concepts such as the new economy, new technologies, hyper‐competition and clock speed are used to explain that the dynamics of competition and markets has never been greater. Thus, there is a large focus on the concept of innovation management in firms. Discusses innovation management, understood as being the activities that firms undertake in order to yield new solutions within products, production and administration. The main contribution is a discussion of how a general framework for innovation management can be tailored to individual situations/different firms.

Managing industrial buyer‐supplier relations – the case for attractiveness

This article is about managing industrial buyer‐supplier relations as seen from the customer perspective. Two successful examples of supplier network management are described, and the limits to broader applicability of these supply management principles discussed. Next the focus is on managing the dyadic relation. Contributions from four of the most influential groups of researchers on the subject are overviewed. Empirical findings from a case study from industry are presented, leading to a short conceptual presentation of an alternative supply management approach. The empirical contribution comes from two case studies carried out at the Danish industrial company Danfoss Drives, which produces frequency converters and is a division of the Danfoss industrial corporation. One case study is about the characteristics of a supplier network supplying aluminum components to Danfoss Drives. The other is about the evolution of one of the industrial buyer‐supplier relations in the aluminum network – between Danfoss Drives and a supplier of extruded aluminum components.

The discipline of management of technology, based on considerations related to technology

Abstract Based on a critical approach to the discipline of management of technology, this paper raises some questions regarding how well suited different perceptions of technology and management of technology are for managing technology in a world enriched by complexity and diversity. It is argued that state-of-the-art perceptions of technology and management of technology have evolved over the years to include more and more issues. However, three current challenges, new understanding of organisation, strategy, and management, point to a number of discussions for management of technology at this point in time. We therefore argue that a perception of technology should take into account the human aspects of technology, the irrational view of technology as socially constructed, should contribute to the new, nonhierarchical organisation, and make it possible to use the complexity and diversity of the business environment proactively.

Frameworks for the magement of technology: towards a contingent approach

The purpose of this paper is to examine different approaches to the management of technology (or MOT). From a historical perspective, the strategic MOT seems to be the latest trend in the development of MOT. To illustrate this, the field of MOT is divided into four schools of thought: the R&D management school, the innovation mangement school, the technology planning school and the strategic MOT school. This leads to an examination of the assumptions concerning the content and process of these schools. A number of implications of taking a strategic approach to the MOT are discussed.

COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY. HOW LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY CAN BE MEANINGFULLY INTEGRATED

Abstract In view of the dynamics of both market and technology development the notion of competency may play an important role as a bridge between market and technology. However, a more differentiated view is needed. Based on a definition of competencies as a system of human beings, technology, organization and culture, we shall identify two important drivers of competence development–technological change and organizational learning. Three kinds of competencies are introduced and illustrated by means of case examples. This will form the basis for discussing issues related to competence development, such as technological and functional forecasting, forecasting versus visioneering, organizational learning as an enabler for competence development. Theoretical and practical implications conclude the paper.

How can we define and understand competencies and their development

Abstract This paper is concerned with the formulation of a framework for competence development as a research area and an area of management attention in firms. It will be argued that there is, indeed, a need for research and management practice of competence development. Based on this need a model for competence development is proposed. The model is followed by some considerations as to how competence development can be practised in management—this being the main contribution of the paper. In conclusion, a number of questions yet to answered by research in competence-based strategy are raised.

Worlds apart? — a look at the operations management area in the US, UK and Scandinavia

This paper is concerned with the discipline of Operations Management. The paper looks at the convergence and divergence of research in OM in Scandinavia, the US, and the UK. The three different research traditions are described and analysed separately and then compared and contrasted. A short example is presented from the management of advanced technology literature. A synthesis is offered that locates the three traditions on Jick’s “three-horned dilemma”. Opportunities for researchers in each tradition to learn from the others are described.

Integrating product and technology development

Increasing competition on product, firm, and industry level makes it ever important to be able to develop new products and - at the same time - develop the necessary new technologies for producing those new products. In this paper, we shall take a look at how four case firms go about integrating their product and technology development. This serves as the basis on which we shall base a model for this kind of integration and a general definition of possible means for integrating product and technology development.