Stolpe, Michael

English

Research Papers in Economics

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Stolpe, Michael
Book Review
[Book Review of] Handbuch
Technologiemanagement, Erich Zahn (ed.) :
Stuttgart, Schäffer-Poeschel, 1995
Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv
Provided in cooperation with:
Institut für Weltwirtschaft (IfW)
Suggested citation: Stolpe, Michael (1995) : [Book Review of] Handbuch
Technologiemanagement, Erich Zahn (ed.) : Stuttgart, Schäffer-Poeschel, 1995,
Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, ISSN 0043-2636, Vol. 131, Iss. 4, pp. 813-815, http://
hdl.handle.net/10419/2208Rezensionen - Book Reviews 813
and harmonization offiscal policies in the context ofmonetary unions. But in view of
constraints on the length of the volume, the choice of subjects to be covered can be
justified.
Overall, therefore, the volume should be particularly useful for graduate and ad-
vanced undergraduate students who want to get clear and thorough overviews of the
fields covered. In fact, I have already included some ofthe chapters in the reading list
for my graduate course on international macroeconomics. Priced reasonably, I would
not hesitate to propose to my graduate students that they acquire this volume.
Hans Genberg
Zahn, Erich (Ed.), H an d b u c h Tec h n 01 0 gieman a g e m e n t. Stuttgart 1995.
Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag. XXIV, 1104 pp.
Political and academicdiscussions ofinternational economic relations havecome to
be dominated by a widespread concem over technology: Which technologies hold the
greatest promise offuture payoffand economic growth? What does it take for a firm,
a region, a country to compete successfully in the race to make these technologies
available? And who will ultimately benefit, who stands to lose from new technologies?
A consensus seems to be forming at least in so far that technology, instead ofbeing a
free good, rather is an asset which is productive only iflooked after and managed with
care.
Beyond this, the management of technology is uncertain terrain, a subject of re-
search still in flux. Among the many questions yet to be settled is the old economic issue
ofthe appropriate level for decision making: Should all management oftechnology be
left to individual firms orshould country-wide organisations, including central govern-
ment, be involved? In other words, should countries adopt active technology policies,
should governments be in the business ofselecting promising technologies for promo-
tion and subsidised development?
TheJapanese Ministry ofInternationalTrade andIndustry(MITI)is oftenregarded
as a successful example of such anticipatory technology management at the national
level. The US administration seems to have moved closer to the Japanese model under
President Clinton, whose council ofeconomic advisers is headed by Laura D'Andrea
Tyson, an advocate of 'cautiously activist' technology policies aimed at market out-
comes. In Europe, the triad's third pole, Germany is the biggest economy, yet German
views on technology issues have hitherto been less vocal and, indeed, less clearly
defined.
Handbuch Technologiemanagement brings together much ofcurrent German think-
ing on the managementoftechnology and therefore deserves aninternational audience.
The heavy volume contains contributions not only from a variety of academic disci-
plines, including engineering, business administration, the natural and the social sci-
ences, but also from practitioners ofboth industry and politics. The book may be used
as a guide by managers and politicians, and as a source of reference and information
by economists seeking to understand the outlines ofwhat Rosenberg (1994) 1 has called
a road map of the sciencejtechnology landscape in advanced industrial economies.
Thebookdivides the subjectmatterintoeight parts,eachofwhichcomprises several
chapters, by different authors, focusing on different sub-topics. Part I is meant to lay
thefoundations oftechnology management and includes a chapter by the editor (Erich
1 Rosenberg, N. (1994). Exploring the Black Box. Technology, Economics, andHistory.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.814 Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv
Zahn, University of Stuttgart) on the definition and purpose of technology manage-
ment, critical reflections on historical applications of basic scientific knowledge in
industry (Walter Kaiser), an essay on the management of fundamental innovations
(Walter Kroy) and briefstudies on technological trends in five areas ofspecial interest
in the current policy debate: microelectronics, mechanical micro systems, biotechnol-
ogy, environmental technologies and production process technology.
Part 11, the book's centrepiece, provides detailed descriptions ofspecificfunctional
tasks oftechnology management in the industrial firm. These tasks include the formu-
lation ofentrepreneurial strategy, the development, maintenance and exploitation of
distinct technological competencies, and the management of interfaces between re-
search and development (R&D) and marketing (Klaus Brockhoff), between supplier,
producer and customer (Stephan Schrader) as weIl as between members of strategie
technology alliances (Alexander Gerybadze).
Part 111 addresses organisational implications oftechnology management, empha-
sising the need for efficient communication (Torsten J. Gerpott) and ongoing organisa-
tional change (Knut Bleicher). - Part IV explains a variety ofmethods proposed for the
management oftechnology. Six chapters introduce methods ofmanaging creativity and
knowledge (Erich Zahn and Jürgen Greschner), technology forecasting (Horst Geschka),
technology assessments (MeinolfDierkes and Sophie Mützel), the evaluation oftechno-
logical alternatives (Werner Pfeiffer and Enno Weiß), development projects (Bernd-J.
Madauss) and the controlling ofR&D (Peter Horvilth). - In Part V, practitioners from
various industries give their own accounts of the central issues and characteristic
difficulties in managing their respective technologies, namely information technology,
pharmaceuticals, chemieals, machinery, automotive technology, aircraft, multimedia
and services.
PartVI is devoted to an international comparison ofcurrent practice in the manage-
ment of technology: Frieder k!eyer-Krahmer and Guido Regel' take a look at the
machinery industry in Europe and assess govemment efforts to support the diffusion
of new technical knowledge in this area; they argue that the classical instruments to
promote technology transfer should be complemented by new institutional arrange-
ments, by active policies to create specific new markets, and should be guided by
long-term demand forecasts. Ronald S. Jonash reports recent developments in the
United States, while Kazuhito Kondo discusses some ofthe current challenges to tech-
nology management by individual firms and by the government in Japan. In addition,
Ursula Weisenfeld-Schenk compares the strategies of leading countries in biotechnol-
ogy.
PartVII discusses technology policiesand some endemie difficulties with technology
transfer in Germany. Heinz Riesenhuber, a former Minister ofResearch and Technol-
ogy, commends five features ofcurrent German technology policy as efficiency enhanc-
ing: (i) the creation of a strong technology infrastructure (including the Fraunhofer
Gesellschaft for applied research) to promote technology transfer and counselling for
small and medium-sized firms; (ii) R&D subsidies and tax credits targeted attechnolo-
gies whose markets are in their infancy; (iii) support for Europe-wide R&0 alliances
(especially among small and medium-sized firms); (iv) fiscal demand for selected large-
scale technologies (as in the case ofEuropeanaerospace technology); and (v) regulatory
measures to set quality orenvironmental targets for private R&D. Furthergoes LothaI'
Späth, a former Ministerpräsident ofBaden-Württembergand now an influential indus-
trialist in Eastem Germany. He calls for an 'entrepreneurial technology policy', by
which he means public investment programmes targeted at high technologies deemed
'strategie' by recognised experts from industry, government and academia alike.
Part VIII rounds off the volume with two essays on the complex interrelationship
between technology and society. Günter Endruweit explores current thinking on theRezensionen - Book Reviews 815
feedback relationship between technology and culture. In similar vein, Reinhard Löser
criticises conventional technology assessment practice for ignoring feedback and for
pretending a one-way causality from technology to society (and the environment). But,
Löser argues, the indisputable impact ofsociety on the strategic development oftech-
nology actually creates a responsibility for government to help form a consensus on
national technology strategies which would provide 'Leitbilder' for decentralised polit-
ical, academic, and economic decision making by public and private agents alike.
The need for a consensus about technological goals and values, at a level above as
weIl as within the individual firm, is a recurrent theme in many ofthe contributions to
Handbuch Technologiemanagement. Indeed, there are repeated references to 'synergies'
which allegedly can be exploited efficiently only by managing the respective complex
system as one integrated entity. Itis in this spirit thatseveral chapters praise the system
oftechnology management at Daimler-Benz, the well-known car and lorry manufac-
turer recently transformed into a widely diversified high-technology conglomerate with
large stakes in aircraft, defense, electronics and financial services. However, by the time
the Handbuch was published, Daimler was still in the depths ofa prolonged structural
crisis atleast partly caused by its precedingtake-over binge. This is a fact notmentioned
in the book. It is a pity that Handbuch Technologiemanagement lacks rigorous economic
analysis and thorough empirical studies to critically examine the sometimes highly
controversial claims made by individual authors.
Michael Stolpe

[Book Review of] Handbuch Technologiemanagement, Erich Zahn (ed.) : Stuttgart, Schäffer-Poeschel, 1995.

http://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/2208/3/262269082.pdf

[Book Review of] Handbuch Technologiemanagement, Erich Zahn (ed.) : Stuttgart, Schäffer-Poeschel, 1995.

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