TVP – Metric 8 Number of Ways Technology is Exploited

Background | User Guide | Program Contents | Stakeholders | List of Metrics

1. Metric Definition

The number of ways a technical asset can bring value to the corporation.

2. Advantages and Limitations

This metric is applied to gauge project attractiveness, or to understand the value of a technical asset already developed. It is generally agreed that a larger number of potential uses, both within the company’s current markets and in markets not yet developed, makes a technical asset more valuable. The metric is a bit arbitrary and can be misleading in cases where there are few, though very large and/or lucrative commercialization events.

3. How to Apply the Metric

This metric is applied by taking an existing or potential technical asset such as a new product, process, or other inventive finding, and conducting a thoughtful analysis of how many ways this asset can be exploited commercially. The count could consider:

1. Number of business units in the corporation that could make use of the asset
2. Number of markets the company serves that could be impacted by this technology
3. Total number of markets served by the corporation and other companies where the technology may have an impact.
4. Number of products that could utilize the technical asset.

Used in this way, the metric is a single numerical value. A larger number of potential uses means that the corporation is not depending on a single or small number of products to succeed in order for the technical asset to deliver value. The risks associated with the exploitation of the technical asset are spread over a larger number of potential uses. A larger number also provides greater opportunity for unforeseen benefits, like taking the company into new markets and new products.

Taking as an example a project to develop a new type of lower cost, light weight composite material, the primary market for the company may be the automotive market, with four different auto parts that could use the strong, light weight tubes produced by the new process. In addition, there could be a market for the technology in the aeronautical industry, served by another business unit of the company. The third exploitation could be in high-performance bicycle frames, a market that is new to the company. The following chart shows how the metric could be applied to this project.

Market
Part
Volume(K)

Automotive*
A-1
600

A-2
300

A-3
150

A-4
100

Aeronautical*
B-1
40

B-2
10

B-3
5

Bicycles
C-1
10

*Business Unit of Corporation

Summary
No. of Corporate BUs Utilizing Technical Asset: 2
No. of Markets for Technical Asset: 3
No. of Product Offerings (Existing Markets) 7
No. of Product Offerings (New and Existing Markets) 8

4. Options

An option in the implementation of this metric can involve adjusting the number for relative importance of the commercializations, or keeping sub-metrics of the number of exploitations with certain value ranges, as demonstrated with the continuing example of the light weight composites.

Market
Part
Volume(K)
Price
Value($M)

Automotive*
A-1
600
$40
24.0

A-2
300
$25
7.5

A-3
150
$12
1.8

A-4
100
$50
.50

Aeronautical*
B-1
40
$200
12.0

B-2
10
$100
1.0

B-3
5
$300
1.5

Bicycles
C-1
10
$250
2.5

*Business Unit of Corporation

Summary
No. of Markets for Technical Asset: 3
No. of Product Offerings 8
No. of Product Offerings with (Value > $10M) 2
No. of Product Offerings with ($2M < Value < $10M) 3
No. of Product Offerings with (Value < $2M) 3

Another technical asset which also had eight product exploitations, but with two products in the ($2M < Value < $10M) category and six products in the (Value < $2M) category is not as attractive as the light weight composite project.

5. Champion and Contacts

6. References

Hamel, G. and Prahalad, C. K. 1994. Competing for the Future. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, ISBN 0-87584-416-2