Market‐pull and technology‐push in manufacturing start‐ups in emerging industries

Abstract

Purpose -As traditional manufacturing, previously vital to the UK economy, is increasingly outsourced to lower-cost locations, policy makers seek leadership in emerging industries by encouraging innovative start-up firms to pursue competitive opportunities. Emerging industries can either be those where a technology exists but the corresponding downstream value chain is unclear, or a new technology may subvert the existing value chain to satisfy existing customer needs. Hence, this area shows evidence of both technology-push and market-pull forces. The purpose of this paper is to focus on market-pull and technology-push orientations in manufacturing ventures, specifically examining how and why this orientation shifts during the firm's formative years. Design/methodology/approach -A multiple case study approach of 25 UK start-ups in emerging industries is used to examine this seldom explored area. The authors offer two models of dynamic business-orientation in start-ups and explain the common reasons for shifts in orientation and why these two orientations do not generally co-exist during early firm development. Findings -Separate evolution paths were found for strategic orientation in manufacturing start-ups and separate reasons for them to shift in their early development. Technology-push start-ups often changed to a market-pull orientation because of new partners, new market information or shift in management priorities. In contrast, many of the start-ups beginning with a market-pull orientation shifted to a technology-push orientation because early market experiences necessitated a focus on improving processes in order to increase productivity or meet partner specifications, or meet a demand for complementary products. Originality/value -While a significant body of work exists regarding manufacturing strategy in established firms, little work has been found that investigates how manufacturing strategy emerges in start-up companies, particularly those in emerging industries.

Combined Energy and Process Simulation to Foster Efficiency in Non-automated Material Handling System Design

“…Apart from system development based on isolated technology improvement only, basic understanding of all underlying processes and system components is an essential step to effectively design and manage material handling systems and components. In line with the investigations of Lubik, Lim, Platts, & Minshall (2012) changing from a technology-push to a market-pull approach based on indeed knowledge of all system components and processes fosters system integration to existing structures and processes and by this overall system efficiency. This paper addresses the gap in literature about the lack of adequately available process and energy data in the field of production related material handling in order to investigate and evaluate the potentials for optimised system design.…”

An empirical examination of critical barriers in transitions between technology push and demand pull strategies in manufacturing organizations

“…Lubik et al (2013) studied the strategic orientation of manufacturing start-ups and it was concluded that many of the start-ups beginning with DP practices shift toward TP orientation in their early development stages. Herrona and Braiden (2006) presented a model to execute and setup profitability change in a cluster of manufacturing companies.…”

The Influence of Entrepreneurial Origin-Strategy Mixes on Levels of Product Innovativeness: The Cases of Agro-preneur in Thailand

“…Technology-push oriented firms get product concepts and designs from an existing or developing technology and thus aim to commercialize products developed from that specific technology, while market-pull oriented firms sense existing unsatisfied market demands and thus create and manufacture products to satisfy that market segment [2]. Technology-push strategy seems to involve resource-intensive activities in order to get access to the market while market-pull strategy seems to strongly link to incremental innovation [6].…”