Innovation Management and Technology Strategy

This assignment delves into the field of innovation management, focusing on its role in shaping competitive advantage within firms. It requires students to analyze various theoretical frameworks, including the resource-based view and the impact of climate change on innovation. The task involves examining real-world examples from the automotive industry and utilizing qualitative research methodologies like case studies. Students are expected to synthesize their findings and present a comprehensive understanding of how technology analysis and strategic management contribute to successful innovation.

Research Proposal

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. CLEAR STATEMENT OF RESEARCH QUESTION...............................................................1
2. PROJECT GOAL AND OBJECTIVES......................................................................................1
Research Aim (Goal)..............................................................................................................1
Research Objectives...............................................................................................................1
3. BACKGROUND/STATEMENT OF PROBLEM/SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT.................2
Problem Statement..................................................................................................................2
Literature Review...................................................................................................................2
4. PROJECT DESIGN/RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...............................................................4
5. PROJECT TIMELINE.................................................................................................................5
6. ANTICIPATED RESULTS ........................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

TITLE: GLOBAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
In order to enhance the business capacity and promulgate customer base, businesses are
going global by increasing their branches in different countries. Global business management is a
broad area which covers numerous elements such as managing technologies and innovations,
international business planning, international business laws, etc. In this context, the research
project will focus on managing technologies and innovation at global business context by
conducting study on Volkswagen. The firm is a German automotive company with branches in
many countries including US, UK, China, India, etc. The organisation is known for producing
luxurious cars for all segments and other automotive parts for industrial supplies. The goals and
objectives of research proposal are described as below:
1. CLEAR STATEMENT OF RESEARCH QUESTION
Research questions are formulated by the researcher which helps the end users to understand
what researcher is going to achieve in the research. In order to accomplish the aim and objectives
of the research, the researcher has formulated the research questions which are described below:
What is the importance of managing technologies and innovation at global business context?,
how management of Volkswagen able to manage their technologies and innovation worldwide?
and what are the benefits acquired by the management of Volkswagen after transfer of
technologies and innovations?
2. PROJECT GOAL AND OBJECTIVES
Research Aim (Goal)
To understand the significance of managing technologies and innovation in global
context; a study on Volkswagen, Germany.
Research Objectives
To support the goal of research, researcher has formulated few objectives:
 To comprehend the importance of technologies and innovation for Volkswagen,
Germany
 To examine the management of technologies and innovation done by Volkswagen,
Germany
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 To investigate the benefits acquired by management of Volkswagen after transfer of
technologies
3. BACKGROUND/STATEMENT OF PROBLEM/SIGNIFICANCE OF
PROJECT
In the present era characterised by dynamism and globalisation, business organisations
are going global in order to enhance their productivity and profitability. During this process
management faced numerous challenges and issues that affect their desire of going global
(Rohrbeck, Thom and Arnold, 2015). These issues involve foreign policies, laws, legislations,
culture, trends, etc. If an organisation goes global, they establish factory or plant in another
country and to embark production, they need technologies and equipment. Management of
technologies and innovation in global setting is critical and an important task which is performed
by the management while going global. Multinational enterprises and new innovative companies
around the world look for young experts who can manage businesses in a global setting.
Innovations and technology are present in all aspects of the modern society. The study will focus
on understanding the management of technologies and innovation in global context by
conducting research on Volkswagen, Germany. The company is renowned for manufacturing
luxury cars and other automotive parts which have branches in majority of countries.
Problem Statement
Managing technologies and innovation is not an easy task. Business managers face many
adversities and challenges while transferring technology from one country to another.
Volkswagen in the past has faced many issues especially in the United States for violating
environmental laws and legislations (De Stefano, Montes-Sancho and Busch, 2016). In this
context, the researcher will conduct in depth research in order to identify how the technologies
and innovation at Volkswagen group are managed, what is the importance of effective
management and how management tackles the challenges.
Literature Review
According to Huang and Handfield, (2015) evolution of technologies and innovation
changes the perception of both customers and management of business organisation. Earlier
when in order to simple task, enormous level of workforce was required and now complex to
complex task can be done easily with the help of advance technologies. Continuous innovations
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and development give rise to new and modern technologies which help automotive industries
greatly. Gaynor, (2017) elucidated that technologies and innovations are important and essential
for the automotive organisations. Machines have replaced man and effectiveness in the quality of
the production and cars has been increased.
With increase in globalisation, businesses are now going global and establishing
factories, plant and company in different parts of the world. Park, (2015) argued that managing
technologies and innovation is a challenging and crucial task for the business organisations.
Management goes through various processes while transferring technologies from one country to
another. The management of technological innovation is both an art as well as a science. The
process involves the know-how and technological core skills to deliver the functionality on one
hand and (with an ear on the ground) the ability to identify changes in technologies to come up
with new innovations on the other. This requires as a result, frameworks, system tools and
methodologies to improve the yield in innovation.
Peschl and Fundneider, (2014) elaborated that in order to sustain in competitive
environment and enhance the profitability of organisation, management of business
organisations prefer to go global. They analyse the country, market trends, cultures and most
importantly, customer purchase behaviour. After that, the organisation comprehends the foreign
policies and laws in order establish manufacturing plant in particular country. Eventually,
management transfers technology in the country where they establish the manufacturing plant in
order begin production phase. It is a complex and critical process as well as management of
business organisation has to go through various processes.
Mowery and et.al, (2015) argued that during this process, management faced numerous
challenges and issues that affect their desire of going global. These issues involve foreign
policies, laws, legislations, culture, trends, etc. In order to increase effectiveness in the quality of
products and services, technologies play a crucial role. Furthermore, after transferring
technologies to another country, business organisations provide an opportunity to the country
their local organisation by introducing them to new tech which can reduce their manual efforts,
cost and time. In every organisation, it is important that management must effectively use
technology so that it will be easy to operate the business activities. Using technology helps in
providing ease in the business operations and achieving goals as well as objectives.
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According to Coccia, (2017) management should examine the organisational
environment so that they can identify weak areas. Accordingly, changes can be made to improve
the same. It will be easy to implement technology in organisation where it is needed. This is
beneficial in improving the product’s quality and employee’s performance. Besides this,
management is responsible for implementing the change. Therefore, they must analyse what
changes are required and thus, develop strategy for same. In the era characterised by dynamism
and globalisation, business organisations are going global in order to enhance their productivity
and profitability (Goffin and Mitchell, 2016). If an organisation goes global, they establish
factory or plant in another country and to embark production, they need technologies and
equipment.
4. PROJECT DESIGN/RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research approach
There are two types of research approaches which are followed while conducting
research. They are inductive and deductive. In this research, deductive approach is used as it will
provide conclusion on how Volkswagen is implementing technology and what impact it has on
the operations (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). Also, is there increase in sales and
efficiency of business or not. The main purpose of using this approach is getting reasons of how
technology has transformed the way of doing business.
Collection of data
Data collection is the process through which researcher gathers crucial and vital
information regarding the subject matter. Generally, there are two types of techniques through
which data is collected. It is known as primary and secondary. Primary means collecting data
through questionnaire, interviews, etc. while secondary means collecting data through old
articles, newspapers, etc. In this, data is collected using primary method (Vaioleti, 2016). With
the help of questionnaire, data is collected at workplace. Employees are asked to fill the
questionnaire.
Research philosophy
The philosophy used in this research is realism approach. It will give results on the global
uses of technology in business. Also, is there increase in business efficiency by using technology
or not. With all this, it is easy to identify the impact of business in international market (Smith,
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2015). Besides this, it will be easy to determine which sector has been highly affected in the
global market.
Research design
It helps in providing effective research outcomes. Research design is divided into two
categories that is exploratory and conclusive (Flick, 2015). In this, exploratory design is used as
it will help in providing specific conclusion. It will show how digital technology is used in
Volkswagen. Also, what benefits are there by using it. Moreover, it will analyse how
management is dealing with the change in technology.
Data sampling
Data sampling refers to how population will be divided so that accurate data can be
collected. In this, data collected is by cluster sampling method. Researcher will get better
example by dividing cluster into different groups (Lewis, 2015). By this, it will be easy in getting
reviews of employees working in different departments. With the help of this, researcher can get
optimum results.
Analysis of data
The data is analysed by using qualitative method. It will help in getting specific and
effective results. Moreover, by this, it will be easy to know the impact of using technology in
Volkswagen. As research is based on rational approach, it will be easy to identify differences in
variables (Humphries, 2017).
5. PROJECT TIMELINE
The researcher will require 16 weeks in order to accomplish the aim and objectives of the study.
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6. ANTICIPATED RESULTS
In the research study, the researcher will provide questionnaire to the managers of
Volkswagen, Germany and conduct survey in order to gather information regarding the
importance of managing technologies and innovation in global context. The questionnaire will
not contain more than 10 questions so that time of managers can be saved. It can be assumed that
most of the manager will be agreed with the statement that managing technologies are
significantly important for Volkswagen while operating in Global Extent. Global business
management is not easy as management has to deal with numerous issues and difficulties. In this
context, the question will be asked from the managers regarding the issues faced by Volkswagen
regarding technologies in a global setting. Most anticipated answer will be the Volkswagen
scandal appeared in 2015 in United States. Furthermore, researcher will ask about the
recommendations from the managers in order to improve the process of managing technologies
and innovations. The response cannot be predicted as everyone has different opinion. Though it
can be assumed that managers will consider the investment in improving the management of
technologies and innovations.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Coccia, M., 2017. Sources of technological innovation: Radical and incremental innovation
problem-driven to support competitive advantage of firms. Technology Analysis &
Strategic Management, 29(9), pp.1048-1061.
De Stefano, M.C., Montes-Sancho, M.J. and Busch, T., 2016. A natural resource-based view of
climate change: Innovation challenges in the automobile industry. Journal of cleaner
production, 139, pp.1436-1448.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Gaynor, G., 2017. Managing technology and innovation. IEEE Engineering Management
Review, 45(4), pp.15-17.
Goffin, K. and Mitchell, R., 2016. Innovation Management: Effective Strategy and
Implementation. Palgrave Macmillan.
Huang, Y.Y. and Handfield, R.B., 2015. Measuring the benefits of ERP on supply management
maturity model: a “big data” method. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, 35(1), pp.2-25.
Humphries, B., 2017. Re-thinking social research: anti-discriminatory approaches in research
methodology. Taylor & Francis.
Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
approaches. Health promotion practice. 16(4). pp.473-475.
Mowery, D.C., and et.al., 2015. Ivory tower and industrial innovation: University-industry
technology transfer before and after the Bayh-Dole Act. Stanford University Press.
Park, I., 2015. Managing technology products in response to consumer purchasing behavior.
Peschl, M.F. and Fundneider, T., 2014. Designing and enabling spaces for collaborative
knowledge creation and innovation: From managing to enabling innovation as socio-
epistemological technology. Computers in Human Behavior, 37, pp.346-359.
Rohrbeck, R., Thom, N. and Arnold, H., 2015. IT tools for foresight: The integrated insight and
response system of Deutsche Telekom Innovation Laboratories. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change, 97, pp.115-126.
Smith, J.A. ed., 2015. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage.
Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A
guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
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Vaioleti, T.M., 2016. Talanoa research methodology: A developing position on Pacific
research. Waikato Journal of Education. 12(1).
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