Describe the importance of technology followership. Discuss the factors influencing a manager's decision on adopting a new technology.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: Technology followership shares a feature with technology leadership: it too can be used to support both low-cost and differentiation strategies. If the follower learns from the leader's experience, it can avoid the costs and risks of leadership and thereby establish a low-cost position. Generic drug makers use this strategy. Followership also can support differentiation. By learning from the leader, followers can adapt the products or delivery systems to fit buyers' needs more closely.

Management decisions about when to adopt new technologies depend also on their potential benefits plus their organization's technology skills. As discussed earlier, technologies do not emerge in their final state; rather, they develop continually. This eventually makes them easier to use and more adaptable to various strategies.

At the same time, complementary products and technologies can make the main technology more useful. For example, doctors and nurses now use a phone app to track eight vital signs, from heart and respiratory rates to falls. The phone app works with a small biosensor patch applied to the skin of patients. While this technology is not yet replacing traditional monitoring (such as heart rate tracking equipment and manual blood pressure testing), it holds great promise for improving the patient experience during hospital stays.

These complementary products and technologies combine with the gradual diffusion of the technology to form a shifting competitive impact. The best time to adopt a technological innovation is when the costs and risks of switching to the technology are outweighed by the benefits. This point will be different for each organization; some will benefit from a leadership (early adopter) role, and others from a followership role, depending on organizational characteristics and strategies.