Question 1 : Please choose 1 topic from the lessons we have learned so far. Do some research(using textbook, journals, internet, etc.) on how your chosen concept is followed in the real world by corporations, share your findings and recommendations on how this can be improved. Please also share the examples wherever you see fit.

Please find the topic chosen below:

Technology Cycles

Technological change tends to be cyclical: Each new s-curve ushers in an initial period of turbulence ,followed by rapid improvement, then diminishing returns, and ultimately is displaced by a new technological discontinuity. Utterback and Abernathy characterized the technology cyclin to two phases:

The fluid phase (when there is considerable uncertainty about the technology and its market; firms experiment with different product designs in this phase).

After a dominant design emerges, the specific phase begins (when firms focus on incremental improvements to the design and manufacturing efficiency)

Anderson and Tushman also found that technological change proceeded cyclically.

Each discontinuity inaugurates a period of turbulence and uncertainty (era of ferment) until a dominant design is selected, ushering in an era of incremental change. Access the text alternative for these images

Anderson and Tushman found that:

A dominant design always rose to command the majority of market share unless the next discontinuity arrived too early.

The dominant design was never in the same form as the original discontinuity but was also not on the leading edge of technology. It bundled the features that would meet the needs of the majority of the market. During the era of incremental change, firms often cease to invest in learning about alternative designs and instead focus on developing competencies related to the dominant design. This explains in part why incumbent firms may have difficulty recognizing and reacting to a discontinuous technology.

Question 2: As an individual, how would you rate your leadership skills? What helped you improve your leadership in this course, reflect on some items and share some of your experiences either from the course or outside of it.