The process of making the business case for technology: A sales and marketing perspective for technologists

D. Probert, M. Dissel, C. Farrukh, L. Mortara, V. Thorn and R. Phaal

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2013, vol. 80, issue 6, 1129-1139

Abstract: Technological investment is a key driver of innovation and the evaluation of technology potential is becoming increasingly important in this context. There is a range of approaches and tools for developing an understanding of the value of technology. However the process of communicating this potential to possible customers is not well documented in terms of theory and practice and falls outside the skill set of many technologists. This paper seeks to integrate the concepts of marketing and consultative selling into making business cases for new technologies. It describes an exploratory study which results in an outline process activity model for technologists wishing to build an effective business case for securing investment internally or when selling a technology externally. Following a review of literature, we suggest that there is potential to learn from market research and consultative sales techniques, and propose a five step process. The work has been industrially validated and forms a novel foundation for further development.

Keywords: Technology evaluation; Business case; Tools; Process perspective; Practical guide; Technology development; Selling; Marketing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:80:y:2013:i:6:p:1129-1139

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2012.07.010

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