Date of Original Version
11-2009
Type
Working Paper
Abstract or Table of Contents
A fundamental issue in the management of technology innovation, both in manufacturing and service industries, is the comparative evaluation of emerging and incumbent technologies. This evaluation entails the juxtaposition of multiple aspects including process con figuration and operational and financial performance. In this paper we present an integrated analytic framework for technology selection that models the relation between these three critical dimensions. We apply our framework in the context of the lique ed natural gas industry, in which new o shore vessel-based regasifi cation technology has recently been developed as an alternative to conventional onshore terminal-based regasification. We analyze the impact of process con figuration and operational and financial performance on technology selection, and identify the conditions under which a specifi c regasi fication technology and its con figuration is appropriate for adoption. We also investigate how the insights we derive may depend on how one models stochastic variability in the relevant processing times.