Skip to main content

A guest lecture on "Role of absorptive capacity in new high-tech product development" at IME, IIT Kanpur

A guest lecture was organized by IME department on 8th September on “Role of Absorptive Capacity in New High-tech Product Development”. The speaker was Mr Shashi Shekhar Mishra, who is a doctoral candidate in marketing area at Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, and his doctoral research is in new high-tech product development process.

The seminar began with an introduction to technological innovations and their transformation into successful new products, which is indispensable for high-tech firms. Mr. Mishra said that the researchers and practioners have well recognized the importance of firm-level technology acquisition intent (TAI) for successful realization of new products across various high-tech industries. Extant literature suggests the role of firm’s dynamic capabilities on new high-tech product development (NPD) process. Higher firm-level absorptive capacity is prescribed to stimulate firm’s external knowledge acquisition and overall performance. However, he also said that hardly has any research ever been attempted to explain the effects of absorptive capacity on TAI in the NPD process. His study tries to address this research gap in the extant literature by first developing a theoretical framework through a focused literature survey that explains the relationships between absorptive capacity and TAI, and subsequent consequence of TAI on NPD process. This is followed by empirical validation of the theoretical framework by conducting a survey on 215 high-tech product marketing firms across the globe.

The results of the path analysis indicate that while absorptive capacity and organizational learning directly influences the firm’s TAI, there is no evidence from the results supporting the direct influence of firm size on the same. Furthermore, TAI positively affects readiness-to-design and found to mediate the relationship between its organizational antecedents and readiness-to-deign. In addition, the results of hierarchical regression analysis reveal that, contrary to prevailing wisdom, absorptive capacity reduces the perception of organizational learning from the acquisition of a new know-how. However absorptive capacity is found not to affect the firm size-TAI relationship in any way. The study results clearly established that the TAI by the firm leads to smooth readiness-to-design in new high-tech product development processes.

In all, the present research contributes significantly to the existing marketing literature by explaining the role of absorptive capacity on NPD process, and provided useful insights to the managers who are involved in the development of new high-tech products. The seminar ended with a vote of thanks from Prof S.C Mishra.

Contributed by:

Saurabh Awasthi,
MBA 1st Year, IIT Kanpur

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

MBA @ IIT Kanpur: More than just an MBA

The season of summer internship has already started for MBA batch of 2013. All have already joined their respective summer-organizations and seem to be enjoying the work and the change. For some it’s a break from campus life and much awaited break from study. College graduates who don’t take a “working” break and join MBA program find an opportunity to earn their first salary-a beautiful experience which I need not explain for obvious reason. While the excitement among fresh college graduates about summer internship is understandable, experienced students cannot be left in exception either. They are found equally excited. Perhaps the break from study is the main reason. The formal attires, which feel ignored for a long time, find a chance to breathe in free air; otherwise the formal attires, at least at IITK, become like a bride’s Shadi ka joda which makes special and rare appearance only. However, when it comes to IIT Kanpur you find an exception. The excitement about summer int...

Reflexions'19 - A Reflection on "Tackling challenges of the VUCA World" !!

The Department of Industrial Management and Engineering, IIT Kanpur presented the flagship event of Prabandhan – Reflexions on Sept 28th, 2019. The 3rd edition of the event on ‘Tackling challenges of the VUCA world' was concluded with a promising and on a cheerful note. With thunderous applause and riveting questions, the event opened to bridge the corporate world with the real world. Reflexions 3.0 saw the participation of 6 eminent industry leaders and management gurus to share their experiences from their respective trades. They were Karan Marwah, Partner – CFO, Advisory Services, KPMG, Harshavardhan Chauhan, Head-Marketing & digital transformation, DLF Shopping Mall, Neelesh Talathi, CFO, Pepperfry, Hari T N, CHRO, Big Basket, Raj Gupta, General Manager, HR, TCS and our very own Professor, Devlina Chatterjee, Managerial Economics, Applied Econometrics. The talk focused on "How well, can the industries predict the results of their actions in a world of Volatility, Unc...

Mr. ST Kalairaj, Market Research In-charge, Ranbaxy interacts with MBA students at IITK

MBA students at IITK got an opportunity to meet Mr. Kalairaj who has more than 20 years of experience in Market Research domain in Pharmaceutical Industry. At present he is looking after the Market research function of Ranbaxy India Region. In the past he played a pivotal role in setting up Market research departments in DRL, Cadila & Panacea Biotec. Mr. Kalairaj kicked off the discussion talking about the changing faces in Indian subcontinent touching upon the economic, technological, educational, cultural changes and how these changes are relevant in business context today. He then gave an overview of the Pharmaceutical industry in India and recently emerging trends in this sector. Some of the top therapeutic areas include Anti-infective, Diabetes, Cardiac, and Neurological. He gave lot of interesting insights on brand building in general and that of Pharma sector in particular and described how 30-70 rule doesn’t hold good in Pharma industry. The speaker talked about the vario...