Balancing technology-focused and solution-focused strategies in the high-tech industry

Abstract

Companies in the high-tech industry can pursue a range of strategies around delivering value to their customers. A technology focus strategy enables organizations to offer to their customers products that feature best-in-class performance along certain parameters. A solution focus strategy enables organizations to offer their customers an integrated set of products and services that are customized for their specific contexts. A tradeoff often exists between the two strategies and organizations have to choose the mix of resource allocation between technology investments and solution investments. Determining the appropriate balance between technology focus and solution focus is often an area of struggle for high-tech companies. This thesis uses literature research to identify existing frameworks for determining where a company should be on the continuum between technology focus strategy and solution focus strategy and when a company should shift, expand, or contract its footprint along that continuum. The thesis will then examine a sample of companies that occupy varying technology/solution focus positions, evaluate the applicability of the frameworks in the case of these companies as well as use the frameworks to try to justify any repositioning that those companies may have undergone or are currently undergoing and possibly to make suggestions on a future strategic course.