A comparison of a technology development methodology with a strategy-based balanced scorecard normative model

Technology entrepreneurs facing the new product and technology development process must go through a number of stages of development before commercialization becomes a reality. Although new and innovative products, services and technologies are essential components of any strategy for competitiveness, the reality is that most ideas or inventions do not get successfully commercialized. Of the myriad of reasons for the failure of so many commercialization attempts, one is the lack of a well designed strategy to guide the development process. Our experience in assisting technology entrepreneurs has resulted in the development of a systematic methodology for evaluating and guiding the technology commercialization process. This experiential-based process focuses on the stages of development of the innovation, the identification of key problems forming barriers to development, and the application of actions designed to circumvent those problems and barriers. The objective of this paper is to present this methodology and compare its key features with a normative model suggested by concepts presented in the Balanced Scorecard and the Strategy-Focused Organization as developed by Kaplan and Norton. A Value Creation Model (VCM) and equation is proposed as a means for systematically allocating scarce resources to successfully implement a technology commercialization strategy.