Long before the rapid development of the Internet placed emerging technologies at the top of almost every corporate agenda, researchers at the Wharton School launched a broad initiative to understand the management of new technologies. For more than six years, they have worked with industry leaders to understand the unique characteristics of emerging technologies, as recently summarized in their book Wharton on Managing Emerging Technologies (Wiley 2000), edited by George Day and Paul Schoemaker. In this executive workshop, Dr. Schoemaker - who serves as Research Director of the Wharton Center - addresses the special challenges of managing new technologies in established organizations from a managerial rather than technical perspective.

Objectives
This unique seminar explores the complex strategic, technological, financial, marketing and organizational challenges that emerging technologies pose for established firms, whose track record in adapting to radical change is usually poor. Managing emerging technologies, Prof. Schoemaker and his colleagues contend, is "a very different game." These technologies - with their rapid velocity, high uncertainty and competence-destroying character - have the potential to create new industries and transform existing ones. The seminar focuses on the key insights, tools and frameworks managers need to succeed at this game, drawing upon the practical experiences of leading corporations such as Atari, DuPont, Monsanto, Schwab, 3M, Merck, Microsoft, Amazon, Royal/Dutch Shell, Nokia, Philips, etc.

We examine how a newspaper company wrestled with the challenges of a digital age; how a typesetting company remained a leader through three generations of radical technological changes; and how innovative financial strategies were used by a pioneering biotechnology firm. In addition, participants' own issues will be examined and discussed using a workshop forum. Common issues facing your own companies will be identified and related to the general framework and insights presented. Rather than offering simple recipes for success, the workshop will provide a broad and realistic view that will help participants manage emerging technologies more successfully in their own organizations.

Specific Topics

• Common pitfalls and traps that trip up established firms
• Potential solutions for incumbent firms in managing emerging technologies
• Strategies for assessing the potential of new markets and products
• The need for scenario planning and "disciplined imagination"
• The limits of patents in protecting gains from technology
• The power of innovative financial strategies
• Real options analysis for making capital investments
• Using alliances and new organizational forms