استراتژی فناوری شرکتی و ارتباط آن با استراتژی شرکت در شرکت چندملیتی Corporate-level technology strategy and its linkage with corporate strategy in multi-business companies: IKCO case study

1. Introduction Diversification is a major path of firms’ growth (Christensen, 2002). Business groups accounted for 45, 40, and 20 of the 50 biggest companies (excluding state-owned enterprises) in India, South Korea, and China, respectively (Ramachandran et al., 2013). More than 60% of Indian multibusiness groups generated better returns during 1997 to 2011 than a comparable portfolio of standalone companies did (Ramachandran et al., 2013). After reaching a saturation point in their initial business due to technological as well as market limitations, they can aspire for more growth through realizing opportunities in different local markets and businesses using their previously earned capabilities (Amsden and Hikino, 1994; Kock and Guillen, 2001; Damodaran, 2009). Competitive advantage of a multi-business diversified company usually is latent in some relationships between different business units (BUs). Prahalad and Hamel (1990) advocate that diversified corporations should not be seen just as a portfolio of discrete businesses but as a collection of competitively important competencies that could be used in different products and markets. Technology may be considered as one of the most important of these competences (Vannoni, 2003). Thus, diversification is not related just to the business portfolio of large corporations but also to their usual multitechnology characteristic (Torrisi and Granstrand, 2004). Although multi-business groups need a comprehensive and overall plan for management of their technological capabilities, there is little research focused on corporatelevel technology strategy (Edler et al., 2002; Arasti et al., 2010). The linkage and alignment of technology and overall strategies at BU level is relatively rich in strategy and technology management literatures and scholars have introduced different frameworks, models, and decision tools for this purpose considering positioning or resourcebased approaches (Vernet and Arasti, 1999; Chiesa, 2001; Christensen, 2002; Pieterse and Pretorius, 2005). Such a linkage at the corporate level is a prerequisite for achieving growth goals (Bellotti, 1994; Hax and Majluf, 1996; Ryan, 1996; Berry and Taggart, 1998; Zahra et al., 1999; Christensen, 2002; Hipkin, 2004; Lenz, 2004; Larsson, 2005).