The Influence of (beta) Technology Intensity and Evaluating TCC Using AHP Model in Iran Tractor Manufacturing Company (ITMCO)

Transcription

1 Internatonal Revew of Busness Research Papers Volume 6. Number 6. December 2010 Pp The Influence of (beta) Technology Intensty and Evaluatng TCC Usng AHP Model n Iran Tractor Manufacturng Company (ITMCO) Shahryar Ghorban Golzar Nezhad *, Reza Rostamzadeh** and Saudah Sofan*** Due to the strategsts n busness World, the most mportant strategc consderaton n nternatonal economc and ndustral competton s n managng nnovaton and technology context. Increasng the compettve advantage of each economc nsttuton needs the ncrease of technologc content mprovement appled n producton process of that nsttuton. The present paper ams to study and evaluate the technology ntensty and TCC n Iran Tractor Manufacturng Company (ITMCO). Accordng to the results of research work, the authors have offered proposals to mprove the technology by ntroducng the turnng ponts and defects exsted n technology parts n the company. Feld of Research: Management 1. Introducton Due to doctrnes of technology mprovement theores, the frst step n mprovng the status of technology and plannng for more efflorescence n the future s recognton and awareness of the content and current status of technology. After recognton of all aspects factors of current technology and analyzng the defects and turnng ponts n ndustry, the next step s to determne the goals regardng the local condton and specal technologc status, n whch the best possble status and strateges to acheve desrable technology s recognzed, evaluated and analyzed and fnally optmal strategy to mprove ndustres s selected (Ch &Kent; 1990). So wthout recognton the current level of technology and knowng defect, tranng ponts and man technologc problems of ndustry each strategy of technology mprovement wll go to fal. The paper organzed as follow; n secton two the mportance of technology explaned. Research questons stated n secton three. In secton four lterature of technology s referred. In sectons fve, sx and seven Methodology of * Shahryar Ghorban Golzar Nezhad, Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development, Unversty Technology Malaysa Emal: shahryar.ghorban@gmal.com **Reza Rostamzadeh, Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development, Unversty Technology Malaysa Emal: rostamzadeh59@gmal.com ***Saudah Sofan, Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development, Unversty Technology Malaysa Emal: Saudah@utm.my

2 research and how the research s conducted, dscussons and results and concluson are explaned respectvely. 2. The necessty and mportance of the ssue The necessty and mportance of measurng technology level n ndustry can be evaluated n two parts: small economy and huge one. Consderng the small economy, technology category n studed n two branches small economy and effcacous management studes n producton functon have shown that producton elements (labor forces,captal, ) only explan half of the producton sze, and economst beleve that ths ndefnte problem whch s appled wth technology level s recognzable. So to mprove the condton and amount of producton, t s mportant to consder technology element (Brown, 2000). on the other hand one of the core requrement of strategc management s current measurng of technology level to make a decson and to recognze the defects and turnng ponts s one of the basc stages n ths procedure measurng technology level provdes documented nformaton of defects and turnng ponts for management, and consders t. As an nformaton entry for strategc management of the company consderng the huge economy, regardless to dscussons related to human mprovement and nsttutonalsm whch derves from technology an producers many dfferent deas, we wll refer just two phenomena to convey technology and technology mprovement. Measurng technology level n ITMCO ntroduces defects and turnng ponts of ndustry technology as well as proper scales to lead and focus nvestment and studes to solve the defects and support turnng ponts of ndustry wthn the country. There are two reasons for the mportance of technology (Flud, 1996). Frst technology s the base of success n busness and also n many servces and wthout effectve use of technology. It s not possble to put oneself n compettve poston. So n ths vew, technology s the man and determnant cause of man course to: - Dfferentaton of product - Reducton n costs. - Creatng new chances n busness (or to confront wth treates of replacng) - To facltate and support essental changes. - Second technology based nnovatons are the only course of long-term growth and mprovement n ndustry and economy, so the management n usage of technology n long-term managng and polcy makng s necessary. 287

3 3. Research questons Nezhad, Rostamzadeh & Sofan The man queston s what s the level of exstng technology n ITMCO? The smlar and more specfc questons are: 1- How s the poston of each technology element? 2- What s the nfluence degree of technology elements n (β) of company and what are ther roles? 3- What are the exstng problems and tranng ponts of technology elements? 4- Is there a proper balance between technology elements? 5- What elements of technology have the most and the least promnence? 6- How can the level of technology be mproved? To answer these questons on the base of research gans, frst we ntroduce dfferent models to measure technology level. Then descrbng the research methodology based on technology ATLAS model, we provde the most mportant fndngs of research and proposed procedures of project to mprove technology n the company. 4. Lterature revew of theoretc prncples The term technology s orgnally a combnaton of Greek terms TECHNO That means art and ndustry and logy means scence cognton, whch s known n Englsh as a dervaton of Logca and Technque. So termologcal meanng s TECHNOGRAPHY. Based on the researchers has done about t, we can clam that as the same number of theorsts n technology context,there are dfferent defntons for technology,whch have many common aspects.although they have superfcal dfferences. In ths secton we wll provde just three defntons wthout analyzng ther dmensons: 1- Technology s the knowledge and necessary sklls to produce a producton and servce whch are the results of thought mght and understandng human and combnaton of exstng rates n nature and n extended concept t also nvolves applyng scence n ndustry usng ordered studes and procedures (UNIDO, technology management,1995). 2- Technology s ntroduced as a transformer factor of natural, sol, captal, labor-force sources to produced stuffs, so we can consder t as a combnaton of hardware and software for producton whch s ncluded of four man factors: techncal mplement, human mplement, nsttutonal mplement and nformatonal mplement (Technology ATLAS, 1990). 3- Technology s a set of knowledge, products, process, tools, procedures, structures and systems whch are appled n creaton of value n a system (Porter, 1990). 288

4 4.1. Classfyng dfferent knd of technology Technology can be classfed for dfferent purpose.ths classfcatons are relatve and dentfyng an accurate boundary for classes s not possble. In ths secton we name just some of the most mportant classes n technology (Yousefpoor, 1988 and Hajfathalpoor, 1993). 1- Classfyng technology accordng to exstng abltes: ncludes explotaton and usage technology, adopton technology, desgnng and constructng technology, producton power of new technology (research and mprovement for nnovaton),the basc researches. 2- Classfyng based on the orgn of technology ncludes: mported. Local, tradtonal and combned technology. 3- Classfyng based on complexty ncluded: acceptable and unacceptable technology. 4- Classfyng applcatory and the amount of nvestment t takes: Includes appled technology and the one whch takes nvestment. 5- Classfyng based on the nature ncludes: hardware and software technology 6- Classfyng based on applcaton ncludes: consumng and producng. 7- Classfyng technology n strategc aspect ncludes: basc technology, key technology, emergng technology, poneer technology, 8- Classfyng technology based on fnal productons ncludes :the technology to produce captal products,the technology to produce ntermedate products and to Produce essental products. 9- Classfyng based on lfetme ncludes: technology n ntroducton phase, Technology n dstrbuton and growth phase, technology fullness phase, technology n obsolescence phase. 10- Classfyng based on the knd of ndustry ncludes: heavy ndustry technology, lght ndustry technology and handcraft technology The levels of technology The technology exstng n each ndustry and n products and servces has some specal levels of ablty and knowledge.ndustral research center UNIDO has classfed the level of technology by studes n ten levels, whch are: 1- The lack of knowledge of technology. 2- Knowng about the exstence of technology and ts applcaton. 3- Havng knowledge about leadershp, management and utlzaton. 4- Havng knowledge about mantenance and repar. 5- Knowledge of assemblng. 6- Knowledge of renewal and reduplcaton procedures. 289

5 7- Knowledge of adoptng procedures. 8- Knowledge of desgnng and mprovement. 9- Knowledge of ndustral and appled researches Insttuton, or n natonal level, each of them evaluates technology n dfferent aspects.each of them has ts specal defects and turnng ponts. For determnng the level of technology there are dfferent approach whch we menton here and then we explan just ATLAS approach because of ts applyng n ths research. These approaches are as follow: 1- Economc assessment of status of technology 2- Dsaggregated measurement of status of technology. 3- Strategc analyss approach 4- Multple ndcator approach 5- Technology ndcators 6- Technology ftness audt. 7- Porters approach. 8- Technology Atlas. 5. Methodology and Research Desgn The research amed to study the nfluence of (beta) Technology ntensty and evaluatng technology components n Iran Tractor Manufacturng Company (ITMCo). For determnng the levels of technology, the researchers used technology Atlas method. Ths approach s the result of four years assessment and research n Asa Pacfc Center for Technology Transmsson (APCTT). One of the dependent organzatons on economc socal commsson of Asa and Pacfc s the draft of whch has wrtten n 1988(APCTT, 1988). The technology atlas whch s new and n evaluaton, s a applcatve approach for developng countres and the results are almost relable. specalty of ths approach not only s t s applcablty n dfferent economc levels but also recognze the exstng defects and turnng ponts so t provdes the possblty to plan and to make strategy and polcy to mprove, empower and for achevng them (Industral Management Organzaton 1995). 1- Techno-ware :that s the means wth technology has been set n them and nclude all necessary physcal possbltes to acheve transmsson,such as tools,equpment,machnery, buldng and etc 2- Human-ware: That s technology led n human who ncludes the necessary abltes to mplement producton, such as: profcency, skll, aglty, nnovaton ntatve, etc. 3- Info-ware: That s the technology led n documents whch ncludes all necessary nformaton and fgures n producton,such as plans, characterstcs, observatons, Relatons, mathematcal calculaton,graphs and scentfc theores. 290

6 4- Orga-ware: That s technology lad n an organzaton whch ncludes all necessary frames a structures n producton such as: systemze, organze, networkng and marketng. To reach the strategc plan based on technology n company, system and subsystems n massve level, we can apply these four categores and create balance and effectve relaton between them. Measurng technology level n the frm based on technology ATLAS, n research whch has done n the frm and t s used to measure technology level. In ths secton the methodology to assess technology level s provded. Indcators to determne technology level: As mentoned before, there are four categores based on technology to determne addtve technology and technology level, techno-ware, nfoware, human-ware, orga-ware. Determnng the promnence and share of each category and combnng them through calculatng. Technology Contrbuton Coeffcent (TCC) ndcates the technology level of an ndustral unt. To measure technology level of ndustral unts, the followng stages have been done: 1- Determnng the statstcal nformaton and proper ndvduals to fll the questonnare wth MIS n the frm. 2- Determnng ndcators to assess the level of techno-ware n the frst stage of producton. 3- Determnng maxmum and mnmum level of complexty n every stage of producton. 4- Determnng ndcators to assess human-ware, nfo-ware, orgaware. 5- Determnng maxmum and mnmum level of complexty n each category of human-ware, nfo-ware, orga-ware. 6- Reference to dfferent people and sectors of the frm and determnng the degree of each ndcator by questonnare. 7- Determnng the mportance of each stage n producton and specfyng proper weghtness accordng to the mportance of every stage. 8- Calculaton the ntensty of the nfluence of each component of technology based on the nformaton obtaned from questonnares 9- Determnng the mportance of technology component n comparson wth each other n the frm. 10- Calculate of technology contrbuton coeffcent (TCC) n the company Determnng the proporton of each technology components Techno-ware (T) - Determnng and separaton the basc producton stages n the frm. 291

7 - Determnng the complexty level of equpment and machnery (maxmum, mnmum) n each stage. - comparng the characterstcs of machnery and equpment n each stage to compare wth SOA (normal condton) - Determnng the weghtness or mportance of each stage. - Makng proper tables to collect nformaton and calculate the share of techno-ware by followng formula: T T 1 ST ( UL LL) LL 9 10 T w Where T s the proporton of techno ware, LL s the mnmum complexty of techno ware n I stage, UL s the maxmum level of complexty n I stage, ST s the average of ndcators promnence n I stage, W s weghtness of I stage Human-ware (H) - Determnng and separaton human force groups (producton workers, supportve workers, producton supervsor..) - Determnng the complexty levels of human ware (maxmum, mnmum) n each group. - Determnng comparatve ndcators for human force. - Determnng the weghtness of each group related to human force. - Makng paper tables to collect data of human force and calculatng ther shares by ths formula: H T 1 SH ( UL LL) LL 9 10 H w Where H s the proporton of human-ware, n each group, LL s the mnmum of complexty n human-ware n I group, UL s the Maxmum complexty n human ware n I group, SH s the average of ndcators promnence n I group and W s the weghtness of I group. Indcators of human-ware nclude the degree of tendency to success, tendency to be serous, tendency to be on tme, tendency to leans and capacty to take rsk Info-ware (I) - Determnng ndcators. - Determnng the complexty levels of nfo-ware (maxmum, mnmum) - Makng tables to collect data of nformaton and calculatng ts. Share by the followng formula: 292

8 I 1 SI( UL LL) LL 9 10 Where I s nfo ware proporton, LL s mnmum complexty of nfo-ware, UL s the maxmum complexty of nfo ware and SI s the average of ndcators promnence determned for nfo-ware Orga-ware (O) - Determnng the complexty levels of oraga-ware (maxmum and mnmum). - Determnng ndcators promnence of orga-ware. - Makng proper tables to collect data of orga-ware and to calculate ther share by the followng formula. O 1 SO( ULO LLO ) LL 9 10 Where O s the proporton of orga-ware, LL s the mnmum complexty of orga-ware, UL s the maxmum complexty of orga-ware, S s the average of ndcators promnence determned for orga-ware. The ndcators of orga-ware nclude leadershp to create motvaton, the ncentve for orentaton, the tendency to strategc management, nternal ndependence and proper space to nnovate Calculatng of Technology Contrbuton Coeffcent (TCC) After calculatng each component T, H, I, O, we use them to combne ther role of power functon called technology contrbuton coeffcent functon:... t h o TCC T H I O Where T, H, I, O are the scores of each component of technology and β relates the role of each component on TCC.The value of β can be calculated by dfferent ways and expert opnon.n ths study herarchal analyss wad used to determne preference of β And the related calculaton was done n expert choce a software.note that the mnmum possble value for aforesad ndcators s zero and the maxmum s one. 293

9 5.3. THIO graph n the company Consderng the promnence average of each technology component 0.7 T O H 0.6 I Fgure 1: THIO graph n the company The fgure ndcate the splt between exstng condton and optmal condton of share of technology component, also t shows the degree of balance or lack of balance between these components n the company. 6. Dscussons and Results The result of technology level n the frm usng ATLAS model has shown that: 1. Assessng values of technology component n the frm shows that the share of techno-ware wth value of 0.71 s the hghest value n comparson wth other components share and humanware, nfo-ware are 0.62,0.6 respectvely.the orga-ware Wth value of 0.58 has the least value n the frm. As general we can set ther order as T> H >I >O. 2. Consderng the maxmum of each element, all technology component of the frm are hgher than the mean. Therefore technology contrbuton coeffcent n addtve value of the frm wth TCC= 0.64 s hgher than mean level. In other words the level of technology of the frm n comparson wth the best possble level n ndustry s hgher than mean level. 3. Consderng the balance between elements of technology n the frm, the values don t have consderable dfference so the balance s n a desrable level. 4. Technology Contrbuton Coeffcent (TCC) of Iran Tractor manufacturng frm s hgher than mean level. Ths coeffcent s a combnaton of values of elements, ndcates the dfference of 294

10 technology level of the frm wth desrable level. In other words n comparson wth the best level, the technology level of the frm s hgher than mean level. 5. Consderng ntensty of effectveness and role of each component based on Herarchc analyss process algorthm shows that techno-ware wth weght of β=0.393 And nfo-ware wth β=0.145 respectvely have the most and the least ntensty of Effectveness n the frm and human-ware and orga-ware have respectvely the subsequent levels. 6. The fndngs of research n techno-ware shows that,the most average value of product stages s related to center housng,front excel and assemblng the engne. The least value also s related to gearbox. 7. fndngs of research n human-ware of technology of the frm shows that: 7.1 Among dfferent ndcators of human-ware n dfferent human groups of the frm, Tendency to learn and tendency to success have the hghest values and the capacty to take rsk and tendency to be on tme have least values Assessng the average of ndcators by separaton of human force classes shows that supervsors of product group have the hghest value n comparson wth other human-ware ndcators and workers group of producton has the least value. 8. Fndng of research n nfo-ware of the frm shows that: 8.1. Between exstng nformaton systems n the frm, strategc plannng nformaton System and research and mprovement nformaton system,have the most and the least value, respectvely Based on the nformaton system to be up to date,strategc plannng nformaton System of the frm s qute usng up to date mechansm and four nformaton system of marketng,management calculatng,engneerng and technology mprovement, And nformaton system of research and mprovement are up to date n 50 percent of cases As general the average of generalty of nformaton n the frm wth the value of 8.36 shows the hgh level of generalty n exstng nformaton n dfferent contexts The average of ndcators of exstence and beng up to date of nformaton systems are respectvely 6.78 and 6.64 whch by consderng the maxmum of 10, the mnmum of zero and the average of 5, the levels of these ndcators are hgher than mean level. 9. Research n orga-ware technology shows that: 9.1. Among the orga-ware technology ndcates, the hghest value relates to the degree of nvolvement and leadershp of creatng motvaton and tendency to orentaton has the least value The total average of ndcators of orga-ware s 5.54, whch consderng the mnmum of zero the maxmum of 10 and the mean of fve, the average of ndcators of orga-ware are n a mean level. 295

11 Although assessment of dfferent aspects and elements of technology and values ndcates desrable values hgher than mean level and also changng current level of technology and mprovng the technology ndcators need consderable efforts the current research acceptng. It s defects ndfferent aspects of technology assessment offers the followngs n ts methodology frame to mprove the level of technology and reach to optmal level. 7. Concluson In ths paper we have tred to llustrate the exstng condton of technology n Iran Tractor Manufacturng Company (ITMCO) accordng to one of the known models to measure technology level. Frst the necessty and mportance of measurng technology was presented and then research Producton queston were offered by conspectus revew of theoretcal prncpals of technology and measurng models, the methodology ATLAS, the level of technology n An nsttuton, a country, or a sector s a functon of four elements: techno ware, humanware, nfo-ware, orga-ware. For empowerng of THIO, the authors made suggestons as follow: 1- Empowerng Orga-ware through empowerng and mprovng the management organzaton abltes n dfferent unts of the frm.the key to mprove technology throughout nsttutons s dependng on effectveness of management and organzaton capactes. Ths aspect of technology has the serous and mportant duty of management and organzng of other elements of technology due to the fndng of research about orga-ware ndcators of technology n the frm, the Followng sentences are offered to empower the orga-ware technology: - Increasng the profcency of managers to apply management and strategc plannng and to equp them wth systematc thought n managng unts. - Defnng accurate long term goals, mdterm goals and short term goals of frms unts. - Identfyng general plans to mprove manager s profcency n dfferent organzatonal levels n the company. 2- To empower Info-ware of technology As the exstence of necessary nformaton systems, one of the most mportant elements of technology n ndustral unts s the nformaton to be update and comprehensve n dfferent producton processes. So based on research fndngs the followng offers are: - The necessty of notce of dfferent unts of the frm to desgn and mprovng necessary nformaton system and efforts to apply modern style n managng nformaton systems. - The necessty of notce to research and mprovement and accurate defnton of ts place n organzatonal structure and to 296

12 collect and complete nformaton and knowledge whch s necessary n research and mprovement of smlar successful unts throughout the world: - Improvng techncal knowledge of managers and techncal and engneerng experts of the frm n modern technology ground related to processes and exstng actvtes. 3- Empowerng Human-ware n the company Human resources n an nsttutonal level not only s a product tool, but also s an ntellgent element by ts profcency and nnovaton, so they have been consdered and n recent decades humans predomnate role has been transformed to effcency and then to use The ntellgence of them. As a result one of the mportant and determnng tools of Technology mprovement n the frm s mprovng mental abltes and human sources. But to the fndng of research the followng sentences s offered to empower human-ware of technology: - nvestment n mprovng organzatonal entrepreneural whch consderng,t wll mprove and extensve spectrum of humanware ndcators: - Improvng knowledge and sklls of human resource to have proper productvty of equpments. - Creatng motvaton and responsblty takng n all levels of human force accordng to the goals of the frm and creatng nnovaton through applyng assocatve managng prncple. - Increasng the organzatonal learnng abltes of human resource, mprovng abltes to manage tme and ncreasng the capactes to take rsk and lack of confdence. 4- Empowerng Techno-ware of the company through studyng the possblty of transmsson of technologes wth advanced techno aspect along wth consderng other elements of technology and studyng and determnng of procedures to ncrease techncal effcency for better use of machnery and equpment as much as possble. 5- Technology ATLAS whch was provded by ESCAP s a proper way to determne technology level of ndustral unts n developng countres. So applyng ths approach n assessng technology level of ndustral unts and servces n our country and especally n the provenance s recommended and makng the research center n ths subject can be useful. 6- The lack of knowledge n some managers and employers of dfferent unts of the frm about new aspects of technology makes t necessary to have some short term currculums for management. 297

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