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WHAT is PRoCEss TECHnology sTRATEgy? 197

KEy QuEsTions
● What is process technology strategy?
● What are suitable dimensions for characterising process technology?
● How do market volume and variety influence process technology?
● What are some of the challenges of information technology?
● How can process technology be evaluated strategically?

What is process technology strategy?
Although the word ‘technology’ is frequently used in managerial conversation, what
does this term actually mean? The Oxford Dictionary defines it as follows: ‘The applica-
tion of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.’ We employ a similar
generic definition for technology used as a corporate slogan by white goods manufac-
turer Zanussi. In its advertisements it talked about its products being the result of the
appliance of science. In this chapter we shall be examining how process technologies add
value in the creation of products and services. Therefore, combining the Zanussi slogan
with our transformation process view of operations, we can say that process technology
is the ‘appliance of science to any operations process’. Note the ‘process’ in this definition.
In this chapter we shall focus upon process technology as distinct from product or service
technology. In manufacturing operations, it is a relatively simple matter to separate the
two. For example, the product technology of a computer is embodied in its hardware
and software. But the process technology that manufactured the computer is the tech-
nology that assembled all the different components. In service operations it can be far
more difficult to distinguish process from product/service technology. For example,
theme parks such as Disney World use flight simulator technologies in some of their
rides. These are large rooms mounted on a moveable hydraulic platform that, when
combined with wide-screen projection, give a realistic experience of, say, space flight.
But is it product/service or process technology? It clearly processes Disney’s customers,
yet the technology is also part of the product – the customers’ experience. Product/
service and process technologies are, in effect, the same thing.

example Marmite’s energy recycling technology 1

Increasingly, process technology is judged on its contribution to an operation’s environmental
sustainability. Similarly, technology is being used directly to improve triple bottom line perfor-
mance (see Chapter 2). An example of this comes from the makers of Marmite. For those who
live in regions of the world where Marmite is not a big seller, it is ‘a nutritious savoury spread
that contains B vitamins, enjoyable in a sandwich, on toast, bread or even as a cooking ingredi-
ent’. It is not to everyone’s taste, which is why it is advertised with the line...’you’ll either love it
or hate it’. But behind the clever advertising, Marmite, which is part of Unilever, the large food
company, is a pioneer in recycling the leftovers from its production process to energy at the
factory where it is made. The factory is in Burton upon Trent in the UK and every year around

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