a sustainable-oriented technology - agtil

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the commercial relevance of medium-sized companies within the supply industry in Austria and Germany, the conceived framework specifically targets the particularities of this industry. 2 THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS 2.1 Technology Development and Process Orientation In many cases the outcome of technology development (TD) projects exhibit new correlation effects between the natural sciences and technical advancement (Strebel 2003) and therefore TD projects are often undirected, unfocused and more indistinctly defined than are product development projects (Cooper et al. 2002; Vahs and Burmester 2005). In this context Cooper (2006) emphasizes, that TD projects – where the outcome is new knowledge, a new technical capability or even a technology platform (Cooper 2009) - are often the foundation or platform for new products of the company or of their customers. Some authors sub-divide the TD activities into the actual technology development (“applied research”) and into the so-called advance development (Specht et al. 2002; Macharzina 2003). In principle, the advance development is responsible for application-oriented further development of new technologies with regard to products and processes of the next or nextbut-one generation and in many cases the outcome of these activities are related prototypes (Diehlmann 1998). Even though TD projects represent a small proportion of effort in the typical company´s development activities, they are often vital to the company´s growth and survival. Therefore TD projects have to be selected and managed in a systematic and focused way throughout a welldefined process model (Cooper 2006). One of the principal objectives of process models is to structure typical tasks in the corresponding field to ensure the targeted application of work techniques, methods and tools (Gaubinger et al. 2009). A well-defined process is transparent for all departments and a common understanding can be developed which eases communication within the company. Empirical studies (Cooper 2001) show that companies using a well-executed development process, are more successful than companies lacking a systematic approach. Because TD projects are quite different in terms of risk, uncertainty, scope and cost from typical new product development projects (Specht et al. 2002; Cooper 2009), these processes have to be different from traditional new product development processes. There exist a vast number of models which describe the “ideal” product development process (e.g. Cooper 1988; Thom 1980; Geschka 1993; Pleschak and Sabisch 1996; Vahs and Burmester 2005; Gaubinger 2009). They vary with regard to the degree of detail, the priorities and the perspective. However, Cooper expanded his product development process model to the so-called front end of innovation (Cooper 2008) and subsequently extended his scope to include systematic TD, which “feed the new product development process” (Cooper 2009). He “bolted on” the so-called “Stage- Gate TD process” which consists of three Stages and four Gates (Cooper 2006). The trigger for every TD process is an idea, which is the outcome of the preliminary stage “Discovery”. The first Gate in Cooper´s model is the idea screen where the decision is taken to commit a limited amount of time and money to the research project. The purpose of the first Stage is to build the foundation for the research project (Cooper 2006). In the second Gate a decision is made to begin limited experimental or technical work in the next Stage. The purpose of the following Stage 2 is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the idea under laboratory conditions. Schuh et al. (2010) point out the increasing importance of joint TD within intercompany networks caused by rapid further development of technologies and the increasing importance of interdisciplinary issues.
In the next Gate a decision has to be taken in order to further develop the TD project. The next Stage is the so-called “Detailed Investigation” where a fully experimental plan is implemented and the technological feasibility is proofed (Cooper 2006). Moreover, the scope of the technology and its value to the company has to be defined. The final Gate is called “Application Path” and the results of technical work are reviewed at that point. The decision has to be taken how the technology will be exploited in detail and how new product projects could be initiated. Cooper points out in his current publications that the TD process should be iterative and feature loops both within Stages and potentially also to previous Stages (Cooper 2008; Cooper 2009). 2.2 Sustainable-oriented Innovation Management Environmental and social challenges are increasingly affecting businesses in many industries, besides the ongoing trend towards aggravated global competition. Due to this, the necessity of developing sustainable products is one of the key challenges facing companies in the 21st century (Maxwell and Van der Vorst 2003). The concept of sustainability goes back to the so-called Brundtland Report wherein Sustainable Development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland Commission 1987). Transposing this idea to the business level, corporate sustainability can be defined as meeting the needs of a firm´s present and future stakeholder, such as shareholders, employees, clients, pressure groups etc. (Dyllick and Hockerts 2002). To this end, focusing on short-term profits is not enough to survive in this challenging environment, because stakeholders expect firms to create economic, environmental and social value. Elkington (1997) emphasizes, that these three dimensions are interrelated and they may influence each other in multiple ways. Future-oriented and visionary companies have to seek new approaches to integrate their chase of economic prosperity with the guarantee for environmental protection and social well-being for current and future generations (Placet et al. 2005). There is wide agreement that the challenges of sustainability conceal risks, but also offer a significant potential for innovation and related business opportunities (Hansen et al. 2009). Therefore sustainability aspects must be considered systematically at all stages of the innovation management process and particularly already in the early stages of the process, the so-called “front end of innovation”. To structure and asses the sustainability effects of innovations and therefore to better inform management about the search focus for sustainable motivated innovation activities, Hansen et al. (2009) have conceptualized a model termed the “Sustainable Innovation Cube” (SIC), which is defined by the three main-dimensions, which are each divided into three sub-dimensions. Therefore the SIC unfolds into 27 individual areas in which sustainability effects may occur and which can be regarded as targets to be addressed by innovation management. Additionally the SIC model implies an assignment of sustainability assessment methods to the 27 SIC areas, which guides companies to the right choice of assessment tools (Hansen et al. 2009). The authors of this article assert that only companies, which define sustainability as a main strategic goal, will gain a competitive advantage; but, not without difficulty. Nidumolu et al. (2009) point out, that most companies go through five stages on the path to becoming sustainable. At each stage companies face different challenges and must develop new competencies to exploit the stagespecific innovation opportunities (Nidumolu et al. 2009). The range reaches from the awareness that environmental regulations and norms become an opportunity for innovations via a stronger awareness of efficiency-aspects throughout the value chain (Hansen et al. 2002) and the development of
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a sustainable-oriented technology - agtil

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