Comparing impacts on organizations participating in on-going industry-level technology roadmapping versus one-time roadmapping efforts

Abstract

Through application of collective action and stakeholder theories, examination of theoretical and analytical studies of technological planning and technology roadmapping, and collection and analysis of survey data from organizational participants in six different industry technology roadmapping exercises, a theoretical model predicting factors that influence the impact on organizations participating in the creation of an industry-level technology roadmap (ITR) was developed and evaluated. The model includes: 1) motivations for organizations to participate in the development of an ITR, 2) industry-related motivations for developing a roadmap, 3) stakeholder-based structure and processes used to create the roadmap, 4) characteristics of the roadmap document, 5) industry clockspeed (pace of change), and 6) organizational impacts from ITR development (e.g. technology planning, pace of innovation, collaborative activities and partnering, implementation of new technologies, etc.). A survey instrument was administered to participants (N=128) involved with six different industry technology roadmapping exercises: concrete, electronics, forest products, magnesium, metal casting, and powder metallurgy industries. This paper summarizes the feedback from ITR development organizational participants regarding six open-ended questions, and makes some conclusions about what characteristics determine whether a roadmap experiences future iterations or is left as a one-time exercise in an industry.