Affiliations: [a] Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Division of Innovation and Design, Industrial Design, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden | [b] Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Division of Innovation and Design, Product Innovation, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden | [c] Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Division of Human Work Science, Engineering Psychology, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden | Department of Industrial Engineering, Narvik University College, Narvik, Norway
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Anders Håkansson, Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Division of Innovation and Design, Industrial Design, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden. Tel.: +46 920 491920; Fax: +46 920 491030; E-mail: anders.hakansson@ltu.se
Abstract: New technology implies improved efficiency. This potential is not always realized. It has been observed that implementation of new technology within Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, (SMEs), is not as widely spread as it could be. There are several likely grounds for this, e.g. difficulties to keep up to date on the latest technology, financial grounds due to expensive technology and uncertainty regarding what gain one would get from the new technology. Looking at technology implementation, a major part of the failed implementation attempts are caused by non-technological reasons, such as organizational and human reasons. Visualizing the expected result and also the implementation process to the SME prior to the actual implementation, the communication is much more direct and the actions the SME has to perform before, during and after the implementation is made clear. When implementing new technology, the information process is crucial. This paper discusses the value of communicating the entire process and the results thereof when evaluating a technology for eventual implementation. The results is viewed in two ways, first the realization of the products whether they meet the needs of the companies or not, second the actual realization process is developed and analysed to suit each company.
