Formulation of Technology Strategy of Cisco

CiscoI.Technology Business LinkageThe technology decisions of Cisco broadly fall under the twin domains of:a.Technology Appropriation•Strategic alliances (acquisitions and partnerships) are inherent part of Cisco's Strategy to gain access to new technologies.

•This led to lesser time to market, thus allowing Cisco to respond to the market with agility.

b.Deployment in Products•Collaborative arrangements (esp acquisitions) were a means of introducing new products.

•New product development process was highly systemized with cross functional team driving the product introduction.

•Cisco tried to convert as many products as it could (depending on their life cycle) to the New Product Integration (NPI) process.

The technology related decisions helped Cisco in entering new markets and in becoming a market leader. Primarily they helped it in altering the rules of the rivalry in the market it chose to compete.

II.Formulation of the Technology Strategya. Strategic Diagnosis1. Environmental Assessment•Technology Intelligence: Industry trend of convergence and requirement of customers to transmit voice, data and video on the same network.

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•Profiling the Competitive Domains: Proposals from the business units and customers regarding what companies should be acquired.

•Identifying the Profit Sites: Identifying the potential firms for collaborative arrangements through a set of screening criteria defined.

2.Competitive Position of the firm•Technology Inventory: Business units identify which capabilities are lacking and suggest possible firms for acquisition.

•Firm's Competitive Positions: Outsourcing is an important strategy to enable focus on the intellectual aspects of the product.

•Technology Requirements: Strong marketing team and leveraging existing distribution channels to sell the acquired products.

b.Formulation of Technology Strategy•Gaining technology capabilities through collaborative partnerships and in-house R&D(30-70 breakup).

•Lesser time to market to enable adapting to market changes quickly.

•Systemized processes (NPI) in place to ensure the quick and successful introduction of new products.

c. Crafting the Implementation Approach1. Mode of Implementation•Collaboration preferred...