A good proportion of Technology Watch
reviews take things other than hard technologies for their main subject
- in particular management techniques (for improving productivity, for
example, or developing and marketing new technology products) and
industrial regulations. We have grouped these reviews in this section
under the heading 'business reviews' to indicate where their impact is
felt most directly.
As with the technology reviews, though, the ideal is to avoid a narrow technical focus. Technology Watch's business reviews, that is, give due consideration where possible to the heterogeneity of the factors bearing on the decision faced over and over by managers in small, medium-sized and large manufacturing companies - how should we respond to this emerging technology? The reviews refuse to endorse the easy way out of pretending the question can be answered effectively by information dealing only with the technical. They refuse, in other words, to take for granted the myth of technological determinism - that technologies evolve according to a hard technological, and therefore asocial, logic.
E-learning - A serious option
E-learning is a serious option for SMEs when a large number of employees need to learn a subject to a prescribed standard. As part of a blended solution, it can allow content to be adapted in order to keep employees engaged for the duration of the course. Appropriate delivery media can also be established, taking an individual organisation's needs into account. It can also allow employees to develop the skills required at their own pace, as a result of which performance and productivity outcomes can be measured.
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Marketing new technologies
In technology-based companies, marketing is frequently taken to be merely a minor business function that can be bolted on once the supposed essentials of the company have been worked out. On the contrary, marketing is almost always crucial to their success. To avoid the pitfalls of underestimating marketing, this review for managers in small technology producers, offers a framework for formulating effective technology marketing strategies.
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