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Reports
Exploring commercial R&D frontiers Advanced technology developments are a major force driving competition in today's global marketplace. This report is the latest in a series of Business Intelligence Program reports that began in 1988 to examine technologies that SRI Consulting Business Intelligence (SRIC-BI) analysts believe will have major long-term commercial impacts on industrial competitiveness in the next 5 to 20 years. These new technologies may offer clients future development opportunities, or they may present competitive challenges to current businesses. As an extreme form of innovation, the development and exploitation of entirely new technologies may bring a payback only in the long term. In the nearer term, companies can innovate by exploring how changes in existing technologies might open the door to new market segments. Although activity in the six areas under discussion is still largely in research and development laboratories, the potential opportunities that the areas represent are significant enough to warrant immediate attention. The report features timing charts and areas to monitor for each of six technologies: bioelectronics, autonomous self-repairing structural materials, micro energy sources, optical data processing, carbon nanotubes, and affective computing. Authors: Michael Adeogun, Andrew Broderick, Anthony Despotakis, Rosamund Gee, Robert Thomas, and Lindsay C. Wilson. Executive Contacts and Report Recipients will receive this document automatically. Insights
A combination of product ubiquity in the marketplace and perfectionism in product development is a surefire way to reach market leadership in premium market segments. But such leadership has its price: As products mature and competitors rapidly gain experience in the market, the specter of commoditization begins to loom, threatening the company's position and requiring new strategies. Because commoditization is an externally instigated process—born of product maturation, market saturation, and industry dynamics—companies cannot stop the process. However, they can adjust existing strategies or find new ones that allow them to sidestep the inexorable march of their products toward commoditization. The first step is to recognize that different types of commoditization exist and to identify the type at work in the company's markets. The next step is to adopt a strategy that fits the situation. Companies may be able to postpone commoditization by capitalizing on existing markets, targeting underserved markets, developing new markets, or finding new points of differentiation through branding, alliances, or other means. With smart implementation of such strategies, companies that see their products heading toward commoditization can ferret out opportunities that lessen the sting and give them new life in their markets. Those that respond early will obviously be in the strongest position. A case study illustrates this process in the real world, highlighting current opportunities to avoid commoditization of speech technology. Author: Martin Schwirn. 24 pages. Index Keywords: Competitive Analysis; Innovation; Marketing; Strategic Planning.
In the five years since a few Silicon Valley start-up companies hatched the idea of Web conferencing, the technology has matured into a standard corporate communications tool. Employees in large companies typically use Web-conferencing services to conduct hundreds of meetings a month for internal announcements, training, collaboration, marketing, and customer service. Not only is the technology relatively easy to implement, though some integration problems remain, but it is inexpensive: Companies can make Web conferencing accessible to all their employees for only $50 000 to $100 000 a year—a cost they can justify on the basis of travel savings alone. Moreover, once companies see the benefits of using Web conferencing internally, they typically move quickly to gain the same benefits outside the firewall, implementing technology that allows them to hold online meetings with customers and supply-chain partners. Indeed, although Web conferencing has not yet become a multi-billion-dollar business for the service providers that pioneered the technology, it is arguably one of the success stories in companies' efforts to adapt the Web to solving business problems. Refinements such as seamless integration of audio and learning content will expand its use and cement its success in the marketplace. Author: David Rader. 9 pages. Index Keywords: Communications; Computer Services; Information Technology; Internet Technologies; Video Technology.
Responsibility for monitoring the quality of water, air, and food has typically fallen to government agencies or corporations. At the same time, concerns about product liability and product-development costs have dampened companies' enthusiasm for developing monitoring devices for the consumer market. Now, however, with changing technical and market conditions, prospects for personal monitoring devices are becoming brighter. On the technical side, advances in miniaturization and integration of devices are opening the door to new approaches. On the market side, consumers are increasingly aware of the health risks of exposure to particular contaminants, and motivated citizen groups are eager to embrace technology that gives them some control over their health and safety. The development of personal monitoring devices is of interest to industry as well as to consumers. The technology that finds use in consumer devices could find dual application in food production and in the monitoring of air and water quality in industrial processes. Of particular interest are food-spoilage monitors, water-quality monitors, and indoor environmental monitors. No clearly definable market exists for such devices yet, so market development is more likely to depend on technology push than on market pull. Moreover, considerable research is necessary into consumer behavior to determine how people might use such devices. Authors: Andrew Broderick and Carolyn E. Sleeth. 11 pages. Index Keywords: Environment; Food and Drink Industries; Measuring and Test Equipment; Packaging; Pollution; Sensors; Water.
Although plastic conductive-polymer solar-cell technology is still at an R&D stage, it has attracted significant research interest because it now shows more promise for future photovoltaic applications than scientists previously expected. As the technology improves in the coming years, commercial interest will increase. Opportunities range from commercializing the basic conductive-polymer materials to make photovoltaic devices to creating plastic photovoltaic systems that will be flexible, cheap, and—perhaps one day—more efficient than conventional inorganic solar cells. Therefore, many organizations will start investing in this emerging technology because of its potential to disrupt existing commercial power-generating technologies, including inorganic photovoltaic technologies—which represent a fast-growing billion-dollar annual energy market. Not only could cheap conductive-polymer solar cells find use as utility-interactive systems, but also they could see use as stand-alone systems in numerous applications, such as charging portable devices' batteries, powering traffic signs and signals, and providing remote-site electrification. However, before the technology can reach the marketplace, it will have to overcome numerous drawbacks, including poor material performance, tough energy-market competition, and the need to prove that it will be as cheap as advocates claim it will. Author: Anthony Despotakis. 12 pages. Index Keywords: Electric Power; Energy Technology; Materials Technology; Nanotechnology; Research and Development. Scan
At the request of clients, Scan No. 2151 (Third Quarter) departs from our usual format to examine trends in each of four major categories: management, technology, the political economy, and consumers. This issue of Scan uses a broader brush than usual to paint a picture of some of the trends that will shape the business environment at large during the next five years. The new century has brought higher levels of uncertainty to the business environment thanks to developments in the political economy and continuing rapid advances in technology. Companies that approach the uncertainty proactively (rather than withdrawing into simple retrenchment) will emerge from the turbulence in a better position than that of competitors to achieve market success. But planning in uncertain times requires a new frame of mind and a new set of planning tools. News The summaries below describe current activities and programs not included in the B-I-P membership but of potential interest to members. New MacroMonitor Marketing Report U.S. households are living precariously. Current debt trends indicate that, in the coming years, credit will increasingly become a critical component of a household's financial life, all the way through the retirement stage. Increased availability of credit and the wealth effect of the past decade's prolonged bull market made a large number of households take on higher levels of debt. In Living on Borrowed Money, analysts in SRI Consulting Business Intelligence's Consumer Financial Decisions (CFD) group expect consumers to take a two-pronged approach in response to the current heavy household-debt levels. Some households will view their situation as unsustainable, put the financial brakes on, and start playing safe by saving more, cutting spending, and limiting additional debt. Others will have more difficulty exiting the credit cycle and will continue living on the financial edge. For more information about the MacroMonitor, telephone: +1 609 734 2048; e-mail: info@sric-bi.com. New Report from the Learning-on-Demand Program Learning Objects in Practice uncovers the "reality gap" between the promise of learning-object technologies and the reality of their role in most eLearning user organizations today. A March 2002 survey by SRI Consulting Business Intelligence's Learning-on-Demand Program and the American Society for Training and Development shows positive indications for learning-object adoption. Nearly a quarter of respondents say that their organizations have already implemented learning-objectŠbased technologies or are in the midst of doing so. Case studies from Autodesk, the Washington National Guard, Shell Exploration, the U.K. Improvement and Development Agency, Rabobank, and Cisco Systems also suggest that learning-object adoption is gathering pace, although many implementation issues still exist. For more information about Learning on Demand, telephone: +1 650 8594600; e-mail: info@sric-bi.com. Current Watch-List B-I-P's scanning and research processes identify areas on the periphery of your business's focus area that constitute potential opportunities or threats. The areas that we decide bear watching go on B-I-P's watch list of defining forces that are transforming the business environment. Current watch-list topics include:
The Bulletin will periodically highlight each defining force, listing related B-I-P publications. |
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