Re-engineering the technology acquisition process

Technology acquisition plays a key role in the management of technology in industrial organisations. To provide a competitive advantage to organisation whose primary business focus is on product development, change management and market success, a conceptual model was developed which provides a formalised approach to technology acquisition, involving a staged process for identifying a technology; a methodology for acquiring the technology, and a decision-making process for sourcing the technology. To ensure widespread application and ease of operation, the model is realised in a groupware environment-MANTRA-a structured resource that represents a decision making process integrating product attributes and marketplace requirements with the technology acquisition process