Value management: An effective innovation management tool for strategic management of technology in the services sector - Case of a VTI

A. Sikander

The concept of Strategic technology management (STM) places technology in a strategic context. STM did not emerge as a distinct area of managerial and academic interests until late 1980s. The key managers may initiate efforts to gain access to newer technologies, but the question is whether the approach they adopt is strategic or a series of ad hoc decisions [Quinn, 1988]. Value Management (VM) has assumed an important role in providing leadership and strategic growth to technology firms. Historically VM emphasized use of alternatives to reduce cost, promote innovation and enhance the performance of products. VM has moved beyond manufacturing and can be applied for strategic decision making in the services sector. It is envisaged the VM can be an effective tool for STM. It should help in generating creative ideas on the most appropriate technologies, examination of alternatives, evaluating the alternatives and developing a strategy. A study conducted by the author in the East, revealed that the performance of firms is influenced by the type of strategies developed during the VM process. This result provided the motivation to explore if such strategies are relevant to the managers of the "services" sector and if their performance too is influenced by these adoptions. There is dearth of similar studies in the literature. More importantly, in this age of technology, there is a dire need for management to understand and implement ideas not perceived before. The results could contribute to the literature/management in developing a set of VM strategies which could be termed as "global" and applied to any sector and those termed as "unique" which are specific to firm/service sector. In terms of the services sector, the nearest similarity to the technology intensive firms appear to be the vocational and technical institutions (VTI). The big study sought to identify and analyse the level of awareness of participants on strategy issues and the perception of departments (including those in the Ministries) about STM (and the inherent VM). This paper attempts to present the results on that part of the study which deals with the relationship between the type of the managers/management (gender, qualification, age etc) and the application of developed strategies. The participants included the staff and heads of departments at a technical college from an oil rich ASEAN country, the senior management at the college and the policy makers at the Department of Technical Education (DTE). The strategy and management data was desired from all the three groups. Data was collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using statistical techniques. A pilot-study helped to refine the questionnaire before it was administered. The study sets the tone to open up discussions and research interest towards applying VM tools in the strategic management of technology in the education sector in a rapidly growing digital world. The type of managers/management revealed as part of this study has implications to the senior planners in the education sector in keeping pace with the technology age by providing valuable inputs to innovate, discover, evaluate and develop strategies to provide value to the stakeholders, decision makers and technology lecturers.

Value management: An effective innovation management tool for strategic management of technology in the services sector - Case of a VTI

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