Technology Infrastructure and Competitive Position

Global interest in technology-based growth politics is growing as technology becomes an increasingly important factor in economic competitiveness. In spite of increased efforts in many nations to develop more effective industry strategies, most of these endeavors have been ad hoc exercises rather than derived from a consistent framework.
Technology Infrastructure and Competitive Position provides that missing framework. It begins by providing an overview of technology-based competition and the relevant issues. A conceptual model is developed that emphasizes the roles and impacts of the supporting infrastructure. Finally, the book addresses the interaction of corporate and governmental roles for providing technology infrastructure, some funding issues and mechanisms for cooperative planning and implementation.

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1 The Economic Roles of Technology Infrastructure.- A Changing Framework for Growth Strategies.- The Role of Technology in Economic Strategy.- The Elements of Technology Infrastructure.- A Brief History of Technology Infrastructure Policy.- Chasing the Japanese Model.- The Need for Expanded Technology Infrastructure.- The Evolution of National Economic Strategies.- Summary.- 2 Strategic Issues in Technology-Based Competition.- Indicators of Competitive Position.- Microeconomic Indicators of Competitive Position.- The Information Technology Production Chain.- Growth Policy Issues.- Economic Impacts of Infrastructure R&D.- Summary.- 3 A Conceptual Model of Technology Infrastructure.- Generic Technology.- Infratechnology.- Management Practice.- Implementing New Infrastructure Roles.- The Dynamics of Technology-Based Competition.- Technology-Based Competition in the 1990s.- Application of the Model to HDTV.- Summary.- Appendix: Definitions of Terms.- 4 Research Consortia.- Globalization and the Demand for Research Consortia.- SEMATECH: Outlier or Model for the Future?.- MCC: A Multi-Dimensional Consortium.- The Consortium/Member Interface.- Industry-Government Consortia.- Assessing the Economic Impacts.- Trends in the Use of Research Consortia.- Summary.- 5 Industry Structure and Investment in Technology Infrastructure.- Foreign Direct Investment.- The Technology Impact of FDI.- Strategy Implications.- Scientific & Technical Information.- Organizational Integration.- Summary.- 6 Strategy and Standards.- The Evolving Role of Standards.- The Economic Functions of Standards.- Evolving Corporate Strategies.- Standards and Competition in Information Technology.- Economic Impacts of Information Technology Standards.- Infrastructure vs. Proprietary Strategies.- Standards for Automated Manufacturing.- Summary.- 7 Trends in Technology Infrastructure.- Alternatives Strategies: Robots vs. Robotics.- Consortia for Cooperative Production?.- Evolving Technology Infrastructure Strategies.- Quality.- Quality as an Element of Corporate Strategy.- Trends in Quality-Related Expenditures.- The Importance of Measurement Investments.- Industry Structure and Quality-Related Strategies.- Future Infrastructure Roles.- Summary.- 8 Corporate Strategy and Government Policy.- Changing R&D Funding Patterns.- New Funding Strategies.- Adapting to Globalization.- An Expanded Technology Infrastructure.- Strategic Issues in Industry-Government Interaction.- The Industry-Government Interface.- Summary.- 9 Infrastructure Strategies in an International Economy.- The Changing of the Tide.- The Policy Process.- What Is Required?.