Make-Buy Decisions in the Face of Radical Innovations

Make-buy decisions are an important aspect of the overall strategic plans for most firms, and the introduction of a new and potentially radical technology into an industry should therefore be a cue for managers to review their make-buy policies. Should a company make in-house the components and processes underpinning the technology, or should it buy them from an outside supplier? Earlier attempts to answer this question may have failed to agree on a single verdict because they have overlooked two important market forces: supplier relations and industry clockspeed.Based on an intensive three-year study at the University of Cambridge which analyzed supply chain management practices from a broad range of manufacturers around the world, this book helps to resolve this classic technology outsourcing dilemma and gives managers the tools they will need to determine if they should make or buy the components and processes that go into a potentially radical innovation. In this way, this study fills an important gap in the body of academic research in this field, and explains the practical implications of this evidence to the development of new technologies in industry.

Robert K. Perrons works for Shell International in the area of technology deployment, and is an affiliated researcher at the University of Cambridge. He has a B.Eng. from McMaster University, a SM degree in Technology & Policy from MIT, and a PhD in engineering from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Cambridge Scholar.