Introduction
Emerging technologies represent a double-edged sword for IT departments of market incumbents. They introduce solutions that might fundamentally change the market’s usage patterns and even create new industries, devaluating existing business models and competencies. Some companies decide to incorporate these technologies as early as possible, whereas others prefer lower-risk innovations and delay or insufficiently commit to addressing emerging technologies’ potential. In other words, companies hesitate regarding how much time and effort they should devote to new technologies monitoring and assessment. According to Ceipek et al. (2021), it depends on two main factors: the company’s motivation and its ability. These factors explained in the example of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies provide sufficient background for estimating the company’s possible extent of commitment.
Discussion
As an emerging technology, IoT influences the nature of industrial structures and market competition through the modification of value chains and the company’s internal processes. IoT technologies create a network of connected physical objects, such as household devices, cars, or heart implants, allowing information processing and interactions between them (Ceipek et al., 2021). The availability of wireless coverage, cheap sensors, processing solutions, and big data analytics contribute to the IoT sector’s rapid growth. From the company’s perspective, this technology can be considered a value-generation opportunity due to the potential increase in business efficiency, customer experience, profits, and cost savings.
In order to benefit from these opportunities, companies have to incorporate IoT technologies into a technological resource base. However, the final decision is subject to its motivation and ability. A company’s motivation can be described as a willingness to engage in monitoring and assessment. In this context, the company’s economic performance before the matter can significantly impact the desire to increase a technological resource base. On the one hand, a successful economic history secures the resource base for possible innovation research activities (Ceipek et al., 2021). However, already-established and well-performing organizational routines and patterns reduce the need for extensive scanning. On the other hand, poor previous economic performance lacks the conditions for stable research but urges the need for change and restraint from less prosperous perspectives (Ceipek et al., 2021). Consequently, the time spent analyzing new technologies should be higher.
In terms of the company’s ability to engage in scanning for adoptable technologies, it is tied to the available resources and leading personnel guidance. Generally, the board of company directors is responsible for resource and other requirements allocation. According to Ceipek et al. (2021, p. 5), it is the board that “can play an important role in overcoming the firm’s resource constraints by providing access to skills, expertise, and networks.” Consequently, the capital represented by the board can be divided into human and social capital. The former relates to already obtained skills and expertise in the chosen market. Thus, the stronger it gets, the lesser the company’s ability to expand further and look for innovation. The latter, however, represents the resources accessible through the relations network and external environment. Therefore, by its definition, it fosters market research and analysis beyond the actual technological level.
Conclusion
Overall, the time and effort devoted to researching new technologies vary depending on the company’s motivation and ability. Companies that support long and thorough investigations displayed poor economic performance before the research. In addition, it signalizes the strong social capital inside the company, enabling and strengthening its reach. In contrast, if a company has already achieved reasonable success in the industry and has a high development level of existing skills, it will not devote much time to innovation due to its reliable and solid economic background.
Reference
Ceipek, R., Hautz, J., Petruzzelli, A. M., De Massis, A., & Matzler, K. (2021). A motivation and ability perspective on engagement in emerging digital technologies: The case of Internet of Things solutions. Long Range Planning, 54(5), 101991. Web.