The Strategy-Technology Firm Fit Audit

The importance of technology in firm strategy is now well established. Yet a comprehensive opportunity evaluation process that objectively incorporates the multiple technology management aspects remains elusive. The majority of models or tools that do include technological dimensions mainly do so from a normative, point in time, market based perspective. Both strategic researchers and those researchers focused on innovation and technology management have developed tools that are either limited by their age or the scope of their respective field's knowledge basis. The result is a set opportunity evaluation tools that are ineffectual. If this is true then there cause for concern. Established as well as entrepreneurial firm opportunity evaluation processes are dominated by opportunity recognition techniques and respective histories of success in taking any opportunity to market. These processes do not focus on decomposition or objective strategic and technological aspects. This has led to serious problems and spectacular failures in the commercialization of opportunities by entrepreneurs, small and medium sized enterprises, and large firms. Here the authors address this problem. We employ seminal and recent advances in the fields of management of technology, strategy and entrepreneurship to produce a multi-dimensional decomposition based model for opportunity evaluation. We utilize the case study method to verify the model. The resultant is Strategy-Technology Firm Fit Audit model. The model provides established firm decision makers a resource for the investigation of potential opportunities. It also provides an entrepreneurial team, institutional investor, angel or venture capitalists a manner to investigate potential venture success.