Lean Commercialization: A New Framework for Commercializing High Technologies

Commercializing high technologies is expensive, tedious, and resource intensive. Meanwhile, there is a need for quick diffusion of innovations due to economic pressures for companies and research institutes. Therefore, this article proposes a new framework: lean commercialization. The framework represents a transformation of new technology and knowledge to products and services through the application of the lean/agile methodology. This methodology focuses on how resources can be minimized during the development, manufacturing, and marketing of new products and services, while still being accepted by customers. The lean commercialization framework was developed from a case study of high-technology companies and by interviewing commercialization experts. This article contributes to the theory and practice of commercialization of high technologies and provides a procedure for the practical application of the lean commercialization framework.</p

The Effect of Digitalization on the Commercialization Process of High-Technology Companies in the Life Sciences Industry

This article examines how digitalization influences the commercialization of high technologies in the life sciences industry. It is based on a cross-case study focused on pharmaceutical, medical device, and e-health companies in Finland. Both company representatives and regional stakeholders were interviewed. The findings suggest that “digitalization” needs to be distinguished from “digitization” because both terms seem to be misused or used interchangeably. The findings also show that digitalization led to a concurrent implementation of commercialization processes. Furthermore, the findings revealed that digitalization positively influenced commercialization activities, especially information sourcing and management, various assessments, and official activities, big data creation, and activity routinization. It was also revealed that the creation of new sets of big data and fear of digital attacks are negative influences on digitalization. These findings make a theoretical contribution to the discourses on digitalization and commercialization, but they also provide insights for scientists, engineers, and life science companies

Lean Commercialization: A New Framework for Commercializing High Technologies

Commercializing high technologies is expensive, tedious, and resource intensive. Meanwhile, there is a need for quick diffusion of innovations due to economic pressures for companies and research institutes. Therefore, this article proposes a new framework: lean commercialization. The framework represents a transformation of new technology and knowledge to products and services through the application of the lean/agile methodology. This methodology focuses on how resources can be minimized during the development, manufacturing, and marketing of new products and services, while still being accepted by customers. The lean commercialization framework was developed from a case study of high-technology companies and by interviewing commercialization experts. This article contributes to the theory and practice of commercialization of high technologies and provides a procedure for the practical application of the lean commercialization framework

Bricolage: Theoretical and Contemporary Uses of the Concept in Entrepreneurship Studies

It is essential to have mutual understanding of theories, because their theoretical and contemporary uses change over time. Thus, this paper examines theoretical and contemporary uses of Bricolage theory in entrepreneurship studies. In doing so, it reviews scholarly articles on the theory through a documentary analysis method. Its findings showed that Bricolage was used across different fields of study. The findings also showed that there are differences between original and contemporary uses of the theory. Similarly, there is change in contextual meaning of the theory. Furthermore, it was noted that the theory was applied to different entrepreneurial phenomena, except certain contexts like entrepreneurial process, entrepreneurship education, and digitalization. This paper makes theoretical contribution by outlining key assumptions of Bricolage and its contextual meanings. It also provides insight for scholars and areas for further research.</p

Commercialization Process of High Technology: A study of Finnish University Spin-Off

This article examines commercialization process of a high technology, which is characterized by a high level of research and development activities, resources-intensive and added values. The article employed a case study approach, by observing a Finnish University Spin-off between 2013 and 2016 and making use of documentary method. In contrary to many previous studies, the findings of the article showed that the spin-off process does not necessarily to be stage-based and has to be flexible. The findings also revealed the factors responsible for successful commercialization. Similarly, the findings pinpointed that "plan is always a plan" and that plan would change during the spin-off creation process. These findings provide an in-depth knowledge for commercialization practitioners, technology entrepreneurship educators, potential entrepreneurs (engineers and scientists) and business enterprises. Therefore, this article contributes to discourse of spin-off, commercialization, technology transfer and academic and university entrepreneurship. </p

The Effect of Digitalization on the Commercialization Process of High-Technology Companies in the Life Sciences Industry

This article examines how digitalization influences the commercialization of high technologies in the life sciences industry. It is based on a cross-case study focused on pharmaceutical, medical device, and e-health companies in Finland. Both company representatives and regional stakeholders were interviewed. The findings suggest that “digitalization” needs to be distinguished from “digitization” because both terms seem to be misused or used interchangeably. The findings also show that digitalization led to a concurrent implementation of commercialization processes. Furthermore, the findings revealed that digitalization positively influenced commercialization activities, especially information sourcing and management, various assessments, and official activities, big data creation, and activity routinization. It was also revealed that the creation of new sets of big data and fear of digital attacks are negative influences on digitalization. These findings make a theoretical contribution to the discourses on digitalization and commercialization, but they also provide insights for scientists, engineers, and life science companies.</p

Commercialization of disruptive innovations: Literature review and proposal for a process framework

The challenges of disruptive innovations have gained significant attention from both academics and practitioners, commercialization being one of the most critical phases. At the same time, however, it is the less studied area of disruptive innovation. Therefore, this article examined scholarly papers on the commercialization of disruptive innovations through a multidisciplinary systematic literature review. It resulted in the analysis of 64 high-quality peer-reviewed academic articles. The analysis highlighted the commercialization models and main constructs that are affecting the commercialization process: market orientation, market learning, user's involvement, market configuration, adoption networks and stakeholders, and innovation transference. The study evidences how commercialization has evolved from a later stage in innovation to influence even the early phases of innovation, characterized in turn by exploration, learning and ecosystem creation activities. Additionally, the analysis led to a proposition that established an integrated commercialization model for high uncertainty innovations. The model has three phases: 1) Concept/value proposition validation, 2) Business model validation & Market creation, and 3) Creating sales in the majority market. Lastly, the article contributes to a better understanding of commercialization processes in high uncertainty innovations, bridging also the academic-practitioner divide.</p

Technology Based-Entrepreneurship: Measurement Technology Perspective

Currently, there are several papers on the New Technology Based Firms (NTBFs) yet the case studies of measurement technology appear to not be available. This work aims to present the entrepreneurial processes of Finnish measurement technology firms. Eight interviews were conducted with the key players of the industry. Successfully, the outcomes of the study revealed that there are five interconnected and interactive phases for new technology commercialization; they are not static and they are continuous in a circular mode. Likewise, there are two facilitators – networking and market potential which serve as linked pins for the identified stages. Furthermore, financing, research and development (R&D), government supports and the entrepreneurship issues were found to be highly relevant for NTBFs. Most importantly, this study presents a new model, which can be adopted by technology entrepreneurs for their invention valorizations.</p

Identifying the Challenges in Commercializing High Technology: A Case Study of Quantum Key Distribution Technology

This article examines the challenges in commercializing high technologies successfully and sustainably using quantum key distribution (QKD) technology as a case study. Quantum communication is increasingly relevant to cybersecurity and nanotechnology, which will replace current technologies and change the way we live. To understand how such high technology could be successfully commercialized, we interviewed individuals from four metrology institutions and two international companies. The result revealed that scattered and small markets, supply chain development, technology validation/certification, a lack of available or adequate infrastructure, and after-sales services are the most serious challenges facing successful commercialization of quantum communication technology. To validate these challenges, we conducted a survey of 60 experts, 49 of whom agreed that above-mentioned factors could affect the commercialization success of QKD technology. Likewise, the survey revealed that technical development, customer orientation/awareness, and government regulations could also hinder the commercialization of QKD technology.  </p

Application of information and communication technology for internationalization of Nigerian small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises

Information and communication technology (ICT) has fundamentally transformed business transactions. While its uses have become ubiquitous in the advanced economies, emerging and developing economies are still struggling with the mode and manner of the deployment of ICT for business. Thus, this study seeks to investigate how small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) utilize ICT in Nigeria for business internationalization. To achieve the goal of the study, a mixed‐method was employed. A questionnaire was administered to 265 people consisting of SMEs staff, managers, and owners. Similarly, interviews were conducted with seven SME decision makers. Findings revealed that Nigerian SMEs used ICT tools, such as websites and social media platforms, for internationalization. The findings also revealed that the challenges of ICT did not affect its application by these SMEs, which contrasts with many previous studies. Furthermore, this study identified privacy concerns, internet problems, cyber insecurity, trust, and system anxiety as new challenges facing the application of ICT tools by SMEs. Similarly, the findings showed that lack of ICT competence and strategic focus of ICT applications are internal problems facing Nigerian SMEs. These findings provide insight for practitioners and academia on the internationalization of Nigeria SMEs and the application of ICT to promote business growth.</p