Determinants of Commercialization Strategy Choice in High-Tech Industries

Innovation development and technology commercialization challenges associated with wealth creation are not new. In fact, the challenges were described by Adam Smith in his classic work, Wealth of Nations, published in 1776.  In today’s global economy, societal and company wealth and jobs are created by the rapid translation of scientific and technological knowledge into new products, new services, and new ventures. Recently, there is more focus globally on understanding the processes associated with successful technology commercialization, especially delineating the optimum organizational strategy for market success. As universities and high technology sectors are the root source of knowledge for successful wealth creation, the global high tech sectors are now attracting increased attention from scientific researchers, business professionals, academics, and governments. 

Research on determinants of commercialization and optimum market strategy choice in high technology sectors  is an open domain for scientists and researchers, especially in the context of  “Market for Ideas” and “Market for Technology” perspectives (J.S. Gans, S. Stern, 2003; A. Arora, A. Fosfuri, A. Gambadella, 2001).  According to the surveys by The Economist and some researchers the technology role in the competitive advantage increases the importance of intellectual property rights’ protection, intangible assets management, complementary assets management, and network creation (The Economist 2005; S. Kortum, J. Lerner, B.H. Hall, 1999).  Technology – strategy research demands interdisciplinary knowledge to better understand the commercialization process. 

The aim of the presentation is to recognize and refine commercialization strategy choices and their determinants in technology dependent sectors. The research method used is are literature review including some well known consulting companies’ reports and pilot research of companies operating in high-tech industries. Some previous empirical research and their conclusions will be quoted, too.