Abstract
As global competition increases, technological capability must be evaluated objectively as one of the most important factors for predominance in technological competition and to ensure sustainable business excellence. Most existing capability evaluation models utilize either quantitative methods, such as patent analysis, or qualitative methods, such as expert panels. Accordingly, they may be in danger of reflecting only fragmentary aspects of technological capabilities, and produce inconsistent results when different models are used. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a comprehensive framework for evaluating technological capabilities in energy companies by considering the complex properties of technological knowledge. For this purpose, we first explored various factors affecting technological capabilities and divided the factors into three categories: individual, organizational, and technology competitiveness. Second, we identified appropriate evaluation items for each category to measure the technological capability. Finally, by using a hybrid approach of qualitative and quantitative methods, we developed an evaluation method for each item and suggested a method to combine the results. The proposed framework was then verified with an energy generation and supply company to investigate its practicality. As one of the earliest attempts to evaluate multi-faceted technological capabilities, the suggested model can support technology and strategic planning.
Highlights
In an environment of fierce technology competition where firms’ technological capabilities largely determine leading positions [1], it is important to enhance firm capabilities through constant development
Due to the significance of the energy sector to the national economy, the evaluation of technological capability has been made at the national level, where the capabilities of organizations in the sector can be regarded as the capabilities of the sector
This paper proposes a methodology for a multi-faceted, internal technological capability evaluation that reflects the complex properties of technological knowledge, which enables to evaluate the current quality of technology assets and help increase business excellence
Summary
In an environment of fierce technology competition where firms’ technological capabilities largely determine leading positions [1], it is important to enhance firm capabilities through constant development. Existing methods to evaluate the level of technological capability can be largely distinguished between quantitative approaches (e.g., patent-based evaluation) and qualitative approaches (e.g., Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)). Of these two methods, most firms have used the former through patent information, which has characterized “the nature of the technological environment in which firms operate” [9]. As technological knowledge has become complicated, it can be difficult to measure a firm’s capabilities using these current methods These problems are more severe when evaluating energy industry firms. A case of the proposed model; and, Section 5 describes the contributions, limitations, and future directions of this study
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