Study On Construction And Operation Management Of Generic Technology Alliance

Generic technologies play an important role driving improvements in industries’ technology level, quality and productivity. They hasten the pace of technological upgrade, and thus have a significant impact on promoting innovation and improve competitiveness. An organizational foundation for generic technology development, generic technology alliances help coordination of stakeholders’interests and relationships and provide solutions for multi-disciplinary generic technology development, resulting in new competitive advantages. The stability and effective development of a generic technology alliance are affected by its stakeholders’ willingness to participate, operations and management and performance assessment. Accordingly, research into the structure, operations and performance of generic technology alliances has practical significance for constructing alliances, taking better advantage of generic technology R&D and promoting innovation.The background and significance of the alliance is studied in the dissertation. First, the dissertation analyzed structures and characteristics of alliances; identified direct and indirect activities related to value creation and value-add steps in generic technology alliance construction; established a generic technology alliance value chain model by using the value chain theory; constructed a model for selecting alliance members using ant colony algorithm, according to factors influencing collaboration partner choice; constructed an alliance value allocation model using Nash equilibrium model and conducted verifying simulations. Next, this work analyzed mechanisms for alliance operations; constructed a risk indicator system for alliance operations, focusing on risk factors and types in alliance operations; produced a risk checklist utilizing questionnaire surveys and principal component analysis; proposed risk response strategies based on risk probability and impact and tolerance. Lastly, this research investigated generic technology alliance performance assessment indicator systems; proposed and applies a performance evaluation methodology using fuzzy comprehensive method; performed feedback comprehensive analysis of partner selection and risk management using performance assessment indicators.The dissertation broke new ground in the following areas:(1) Based on generic technology alliance value chain features and using ant colony algorithm, the dissertation constructed a generic technology alliance partner selection model. Contents and characteristics of generic technology value chain were analyzed using value chain theory, and direct and indirect activities in value creation and value-add steps were identified in generic technology alliance construction. This study described difference factors of alliance members in terms of R&D cost, schedule, quality, technology alternatives and expected economic benefits in the context of overall demand of financial, R&D, production, sales capabilities.(2) Based on the Nash equilibrium theory, this dissertation constructed an alliance member benefit allocation model under self-satisfaction and group-satisfaction scenarios. Return for generic technology alliance partners can take the forms of joint project companies, value allocation, etc. When a partner chooses to enter into an alliance, satisfaction of its self-interest depends on its contribution and cost in the alliance. But when the alliance seeks group-satisfaction, the benefit distribution of alliance members not only depends on their own worst-case interest allocation, but also on the satisfaction of alliance members who invest more and are thus more important. Therefore, in order to achieve a balanced recognition of own and group satisfaction for benefit allocation, this study proposed a contracted interest allocation scheme.(3) This study identified the top ten risk factors of generic technology alliances, and proposed coping strategies based on risk tolerance. For R&D, relationship and performance risks, this work used questionnaires and principal component analysis to select iteratively top ten risk factors, and identified systematic and non-systematic risks. Risk response strategies in the context of risk tolerance were proposed according to risk probability and damage level.(4) A generic technology alliance performance assessment indicator system was established based on the self-organizing feature; fuzzy comprehensive method was employed to assess alliance performance. Combined with the seven basic characteristics of alliance, i.e. aggregation, non-linear relationship, knowledge flow, diversity integration, mechanism, the internal model and constructed module, this study used principal component analysis to build a performance indicator system, used fuzzy comprehensive analysis to evaluate alliance performance and conducted empirical modeling. Feedback analysis of performance assessment, operations and management revealed important connections among alliance value chain composition, structure of learning organization and the systemic risks of the alliance.