Technology push is as important as marketing pull

This paper deals with the small and medium sized industrial firm that chooses to develop, produce and market new products on a regular basis. For such a firm it seems wise to give priority to ideas and products that have the ability to generate profit in the short run. Doing so, the firm focusses on the market, on competition and on the customer demands, hence on market pull. However, this does not justify the complexity ofgenerating new products. This is because this view is too simplified and too one-sided. First ofall, the issue is not only if one can profit from a product, one has to have also the thorough know-how and the skills (i.e. the technology) to develop, produce and market that product. A second reason why this is too simple is that the product should fit in the scope ofthe firm. These objectives determine direction and speed to the firm. It is not just a matter of profit or loss. In contrast to product innovation at the product level, product innovation at the firm level not only assesses the product success or product failure, but also its contribution to the firm as a whole. This contribution is not measured only by profit, but especially in know-how and skills. So the objectives of the firm should also deal with technology. In practice however is the strategic relationship between the products and thejirm as a whole ojtenmissing. Strategic plans usualyare not more than a compilation ofdifferent product/market combination prospects. Thirdlv, it seems thatfirms heavily rely on highly developed technologies should not just focus on toelays' market but also on the market of tomrrow. So it is wise to be prepared for those demands, i.e. to invest in technology push. After having pointed out the importance of technology in strategic decision making as seen in literature and in practice, the paper will discuss this in more detail. Finally a framework for the development ofa technology strategy, which has been developed, is briefly discussed.