200% CORRECT DD beats *documentation* any day!
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Read the first 5 words again!
They witnessed trucks being loaded which means fuel sales.
I have been thinking that JBI has a great trick up its sleeve and I can not wait for it to be revealed at the AGM!
I wonder what advancements have been made in the past few months! Having followed this stock from day one, and seeing the slow but steady progression forward, I await in anticipation more great news at the AGM. I have not been let down at the first two and do not expect to be let down at this third one! LOL :o)
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
1
The Chief Technology Officer:
Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Roger D. Smith
Titan Corporation
rdsmith@titan.com
Introduction
The significant role of technology in
strategic business decisions has created the
need for executives who understand
technology and recognize profitable
applications to products, services, and
processes. Many companies have addressed
this need through the appointment of a Chief
Technology Officer (CTO) whose
responsibilities include monitoring new
technologies and assessing their potential to
become new products or services,
overseeing the selection of research projects
to insure that they have the potential to add
value to the company, providing reliable
technical assessments of potential mergers
and acquisitions, explaining company
products and future plans to the trade media,
and participating in government, academic,
and industry groups where there are
opportunities to promote the company’s
reputation and to capture valuable data.
Integrating these technology-based activities
into the corporate strategy requires that the
CTO nurture effective relationships with key
people throughout the company. These
include the CEO, members of the Executive
Committee, chief scientists, research
laboratory directors, and marketing leaders.
Origins of the Chief Technology Officer
In the 1950s and 1960s, many large
corporations established beautiful research
laboratories at locations remote from their
headquarters and manufacturing facilities.
The goal was to collect brilliant scientists
and allow them to study relevant topics in an
environment unhindered by day-to-day
business concerns. The director of the
laboratory was often a corporate vice
president who did not participate in
decisions regarding corporate strategy and
direction. Instead, his responsibilities were
to attract the best scientists, explore new
ideas, and publish respected research
papers.1
By the late 1980s, companies began to
anoint R&D laboratory directors as Chief
Technology Officers. Technology was
becoming such a prevalent part of company
products and services that senior
management needed an operational
executive who could understand it and
provide reliable advice on its application.
However, executive search agencies, under
direction from their corporate customers,
continued to fill the CTO position with the
same people they had recommended to lead
R&D laboratories.2 Several experiences with
these candidates soon made it clear that the
responsibilities of the CTO were
significantly different from those of the
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
2
research scientist. The CTO position called
for a technologist or scientist who could
translate technological capabilities into
strategic business decisions. Lewis
expresses this very clearly.
“The CTO’s key tasks are not those
of lab director writ large but, rather,
of a technical businessperson
deeply involved in shaping and
implementing overall corporate
strategy.”3
Though large companies such as General
Electric, Allied-Signal, and ALCOA created
the position of CTO in the late 1980s, the
position has also played an important role in
computer and Internet companies in the late
1990s. Many of these provide products and
services that are pure technology.
Therefore, the CTO can play a prominent
role in directing and shaping their entire
business.
Strategic Responsibilities of the CTO
The CTO position is far from being
standardized. Each company has unique
requirements for its CTO and provides a
unique organizational structure into which
the person will fit. This section describes
some of the more prominently cited
responsibilities of the CTO.
Monitoring and Assessing New
Technologies
The rate of change of technology guarantees
that knowledge and expertise gained several
years ago will no longer be completely
valid. This creates the need for a
technologically current person to serve as an
advisor to senior executives during strategic
decision-making. Paul O’Neill stated that a
CTO should be expected to, “identify,
access, [and] investigate high-risk, highreturn
technologies possessing potential
Table 1. Skills and Competencies of an
Effective CTO
Technology
The CTO should have been a leader in a
technology that is an important part of
the corporate business base.
Strategy
The CTO is a corporate executive dealing
with strategic decisions about the future
direction of the company. The CTO must
make the transition from technical expert
to business strategists.
Business Growth
CTOs must make decisions about which
technologies are most likely to generate
the highest rate of return. The CTO
thinks about technology as a
moneymaking asset, not as a field of
exploration for its own sake.
Interpersonal Skills
All executives, including the CTO, must
be able to communicate clearly and
effectively with people from all types of
backgrounds.
Executive Relationships
The CTO position is relatively new in
most organizations, therefore, the
individual filling the position must insure
that he or she is included in the executive
decision-making cycle.
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
3
application within existing businesses or for
creating new businesses”. 4 Knowledge that
is several years old cannot effectively guide
this type of assessment. If a company is
planning to modify its production process or
add new products, it must understand how
the latest technologies can contribute to
those plans. As an illustration of this, Peter
Bridenbaugh recognized the significance of
technical advancements that made it
possible for mini-mills to operate profitably
and to assault the markets held by large
metal producing companies like Alcoa.4
Because he was actively monitoring new
technologies and assessing their
applicability to business opportunities,
Bridenbaugh was in a position to advise
Alcoa of this threat while mini-mills still
occupied a very limited niche in metals
production. Though other executives within
Alcoa had come up through the operational
and scientific ranks, their focus had changed
to organizational and financial issues.
Because they were no longer intimately
familiar with the latest scientific
developments in metal production, the
emergence of mini-mills did not appear to
be a serious threat to Alcoa’s business.
Junior engineers, on the other hand, may
have realized that new technology made it
possible for small mills to produce high
quality products at prices competitive to
Alcoa’s. But, those engineers did not
possess the experience necessary to support
their opinions to upper management.
Neither did they have access to those senior
decision-makers. Therefore, a CTO who
embodies current knowledge, is networked
with company engineers, has years of
experience, and has access to executive
decision-makers is a valuable resource in
recognizing important new technologies and
bringing them into the company’s strategic
decision-making process.
Bert Thurlings of Philips Research
Laboratories has arrived at conclusions
similar to those of O’Neill and Bridenbaugh
through his field studies of numerous CTOs.
These indicate that CTOs themselves feel
that one of their most important
responsibilities is to monitor, evaluate, and
select technologies that can be applied to
future products and services.5 A significant
investment in the active exploration of all
relevant technical areas is required in order
to identify opportunities buried amid all of
the information available. Internal company
managers and scientists are often qualified
to perform this analysis, but are so focused
on day-to-day operations that they do not
have time to study broadly and deeply
enough to locate the technologies that will
be essential in the future. These people
frequently identify important changes once a
competitor has already implemented a
similar idea. However, by that time, it is too
late for the company to capture the lead in
the application of that technology to
products, services, and production
techniques. Such a company would find
itself trying to catch-up to the new leader in
the field.
The opinions and experiences expressed by
large companies like Alcoa and Philips are
echoed by the CTOs of the new generation
of information companies as well. Pavan
Nigam, CTO of WebMD, reports that an
important part of his job is reading and
evaluating large amounts of data about new
products.6 Information service vendors are
so eager to attract the attention of the media
and of customers that their claims are often
exaggerated. Managers and scientists within
WebMD could be misled by these claims
and expend irreplaceable time and money
working with products that are not able to
deliver the promised capabilities. Therefore,
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
4
Nigam provides a valuable service by
remaining abreast of vendor claims and by
learning about the experiences of other
companies using those same products and
services. This allows him to direct WebMD
away from ineffective products and toward
others that do solve its problems.
Darren McKnight, the CTO of defense
contractor Titan Corp., listed the evaluation
of new technologies as his number one
responsibility.7 Titan had developed an
electron beam technology to sterilize
medical components and the company’s
senior technologists recognized that this
capability could also be used to pasteurize
food products - Titan created the Surebeam
subsidiary to pursue this market. Following
the anthrax contaminations in Washington,
D.C., McKnight and others recognized that
Surebeam’s systems could be used to kill
anthrax hidden in postal envelopes. Backed
by existing research and prior publications
on the subject, Titan created a new market
for electron beam systems and assigned a
facility to sterilize selected mail destined for
the nation’s capital. The expertise of
business executives, unaided by
technologists, would not have been
sufficient for identifying such a unique
opportunity. Situations like this demonstrate
the real contributions that can be made by a
CTO.
Strategic Innovation
Michael Porter explains that, “companies
have to find ways of growing and building
advantages rather than just eliminating
disadvantages.”8 A significant part of this is
strategic innovation. In some industries,
new products based on new technology are
the lifeblood of the company. In other
industries, core products remain unchanged
for decades, but the processes used to create
them are continually evolving and becoming
more efficient. Proctor & Gamble
recognized that their products were mature,
but that their scientists had a number of
good ideas for improving existing products
and creating new ones. The company’s CEO
and CTO created the Innovation Leadership
Team to find and allocate funds to support
these new ideas. This program quickly led
to eleven new products and a number of
innovations waiting to be turned into
products, giving Proctor & Gamble a
significant lead on competitors. 9 Just as
Peter Bridenbaugh learned that emerging
technology was creating a new class of
competitors for rolled metal products,
companies that create commodities like
laundry detergent, toilet paper, gasoline, and
furniture must apply technology to improve
their production processes and add an edge
to their products that competitors cannot
match. O’Neill emphasizes that established
companies need a CTO to “assure
development of fundamental technologies
offering clear competitive advantage for
current and future businesses.”4 Walter
Robb, former CTO of General Electric
Medical Systems, believes that “it is the
responsibility of the CTO to push the
boundary on risk taking.”10 The CTO’s
relationships with the R&D scientists equip
him with knowledge about the state-of-theart
that will allow him to recommend risks
that have a high probability of success.
GE’s innovative designs for CAT scanners
and magnetic resonance imaging systems
accepted high levels of risk in order to create
unique products containing features beyond
the technical reach of their competitors.
Those calculated risks led to a market
dominating position that extended over a
decade.
CTOs like Robb take risks because they
have a vision for where the company should
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
5
take its products in the future. Such product
vision is one of the key reasons for
employing a CTO. Ron Moritz, CTO of
Symantec, says
“One of the key roles of the CTO is to
provide the technical vision to complement
the business vision, setting the tone and
direction for the company’s technologies.
Leadership, in this context, comes from
being able to set the technical course and
from being able to define what the
company’s products and technologies might
look like in two, three, or more years.”6
Product vision should be based on an
intimate understanding of the power of the
current technology component of the
product and knowledge about innovations
and changes that are occurring in related
fields.
Michael Earl emphasized that investments in
technology and innovation must be
connected directly to business strategy. In
fact, he found that the most successful
approach was when a company did not have
a separate technology strategy. Instead, the
best technology strategies were those that
were fully integrated with the business
strategy.11 CTOs are now expected to
contribute technology expertise to business
strategies, not to create independent research
laboratories and strategies that are only
loosely coupled to the company’s profit
engine.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are an
important part of the growth strategy of
many companies. These involve important
strategies in financing, governmental
oversight, taxation, corporate culture, and
technological synergy. Unfortunately, after
studying more than 5,000 acquisitions,
divestitures, spin-offs, equity investments,
and alliances, Frick and Torres discovered
that over half of the deals resulted in a lower
market value for the resulting entities.12
Other McKinsey studies in the late 1980’s
reported that, at that time, more than seventy
percent of acquisitions failed to earn back
the cost of capital used to purchase the
company.2 Frick and Torres maintain that
there are two major causes of this problem.
First, the acquisition becomes an exercise in
financial engineering. It focuses on
successfully structuring the finances
required to make the acquisition possible
and loses sight of the strategic objectives of
the acquisition. Second, it is a form of
corporate ego boosting. Corporate leaders
are eager to build an empire or capture high
profile products. Frick and Torres contend
that, in contrast to these two motives, value
creating mergers and acquisitions are
focused on the strategic value that can be
achieved through the transaction. However,
to make this happen, it is essential that the
due diligence leading up to the deal include
an evaluation of the value of the
technologies being acquired. The CTO’s
role in due diligence includes evaluating
patents, reviewing technical publications,
and studying trade data to determine the
value of the target company and to rank it
against its competitors. Darren McKnight at
Titan Corporation includes these types of
investigations in his list of key
responsibilities.7 At Titan each deal has
included a strategic evaluation of the
technologies within the target company and
the synergies that those technologies could
generate within the Titan family.
Marketing and Media Relations
Media attention to company products and
capabilities plays an important role in the
success of those products. Constructing the
information and images released to the
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
6
public is primarily the responsibility of the
marketing and sales departments. However,
technical expertise is required to accurately
translate some product details into terms that
can be marketed. Rajeev Bharadwaj, the
CTO of Ejasent, plays an active role in
communicating with the media.13 He
believes that the CTO must translate
technical details into real customer
advantages that are superior to those of
competing products. Internet start-ups must
also create convincing presentations and
demonstrations for venture capitalists (VCs).
The VCs provide the initial revenue stream
necessary to turn an idea into a viable
product. In the early stages of a company,
the VCs are the customers and the marketing
story is focused on them rather than the
actual consumers.
In addition to creating media worthy stories
for publication, companies create media
worthy experts to be interviewed and
quoted. Trade magazines and television
producers rely upon statements by insiders
and experts who can speak authoritatively
on a subject. These experts “are like
politicians – they’re made, nurtured, and
coached.”8 They are also made constantly
accessible to the media for consultation.
Ron Moritz, CTO of Symantec, was an
expert in Internet security, but the media
was not aware of his expertise. Therefore,
Symantec’s President took it upon himself to
turn Moritz into a media recognized and
consulted expert.6 This was part of the
corporate strategy at Symantec and
contributed to the success of its security
products.
Government, Academia, Professional
Organizations
Prominent technologists are often called
upon to provide services to government,
academic, and professional organizations.
These services combine civic and
professional duty with the opportunity to
convey a positive image of the company and
its products.
Governmental committees investigate issues
of national importance. Service on these
committees is an honor, but it also requires
the dedication of time, energy, and money
that could be focused on other pursuits.
Participation brings several rewards that are
an alternative form of payment.
· Tacit recognition as a leader in the field,
· Opportunities to influence the decisions
of the committee in a professionally
positive manner, and
· Early and intimate access to the work
generated by the committee.
Since many CTOs possess advanced college
degrees, they tend to have multiple
relationships with members of academia.
These relationships lead to partnerships and
funding for research that is of mutual
interest. Companies participating in these
activities generally structure the partnership
such that they have first access to the results
of the research. One of the most
commercially successful and widely
recognized industry/academia partnerships
is the Media Lab at MIT. This lab
investigates the application of computer
technologies to practical social problems. In
2001, the lab received 95% of its $36
million budget from 140 corporate
sponsors.14 There are hundreds of similar,
but smaller, examples of corporate and
academic partnerships that can involve
participation or oversight by the CTO. As a
businessman, the CTO must insure that
money and time spent on such projects is
aligned with the corporate strategy and has a
realistic potential of contributing to the
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
7
company’s competitive advantage in the
foreseeable future.
Finally, CTOs are called upon to participate
in professional organizations and their
associated meetings. Similar to government
committees, these are an opportunity to
project a positive image within the
profession and to communicate important
messages. Presentations allow the CTO to
tell partners, suppliers, competitors, and
customers about their expertise, products,
future strategy, or commitment to an
industry. Both, Bill Waite, President of
Aegis Technologies, and David Zeltzer,
CTO of the Fraunhofer Center for Research
in Computer Graphics, maintain that the
relationships that they build through
professional organizations contribute
directly to their business base.15, 16
Company Culture
Earlier sections described how the CTO
could contribute to strategy, acquisitions,
media relations, government committees,
and academic research. But, the CTO can
also serve an important role in creating the
internal culture. The CTO should initiate
activities and policies that create a
technology-friendly culture aligned with the
company’s business strategy.
Other technology leaders throughout a
company may create policies and practices
that attempt to attract and retain the highest
quality people available. However, if these
are not aligned with the corporate business
strategy, they may attract excellent people
who are not able to contribute to business
objectives.
The CTO should insure that policies and
practices are constructed to attract the right
kind, right number, and right placement of
technologists. This will require the
establishment of formal and informal
networks to implement the policies and to
insure that they are aligned throughout the
company.3 These networks will also serve as
the conduits through which corporate vision
and direction can be communicated.
Informal networks of technologists can be
used to mediate organizational problems that
extend beyond the control of operational
managers. In some companies these
networks tend to catalyze unofficial
practices that are aimed at improving
internal performance. Lewis reports the
emergence of internal publications, technical
seminars, lists of known experts, and
technical expositions.3
Relationships that Empower the CTO
The CTO position was initially created to
insure that senior management paid
appropriate attention to their own corporate
technological capabilities.17 Attracting this
attention and operating as an effective
member of the executive team, requires that
the CTO nurture relationships with a number
of people and groups internal and external to
the company.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive
Committees
Providing strategic advice to the CEO and
the Executive Committee requires much
more than technical expertise. The CTO
must earn the trust and confidence of the
CEO. In previous positions, the CTO may
have earned the respect and confidence of
peers and superiors through technical
prowess and performance. But, this new
position requires business prowess and
financial performance.1 The CTO must
exhibit a clear understanding of and
dedication to improving the competitive
position of the company.
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
8
The acceptance of the CTO as a business
strategist is an important step. It will
determine whether the CTO is treated as an
equal member of the executive team or is
isolated as an outside source for technical
advice and information. Ed Roberts’ study
of the strategic management of technology
indicates that most companies include the
CTO on the Executive Committee along
with the CEO, COO, CFO, and CIO. In
North America 60% of the companies
surveyed included the CTO on this
committee. In Europe the number was 67%
and in Japan it was 91%. 18 In some
companies the CTO actually teaches senior
management about the importance of
technology in their industry. The goal is to
ingrain technology as a significant
consideration in all executive decisionmaking.
19, 20
CTOs are not the first officers to face the
challenge of inclusion or exclusion from the
strategic process. When the CIO position
emerged, they too were branded as
technologists who could not function as
business strategists.21 This image has
diminished as CIOs have shown themselves
to be just as effective at making business
decisions as their management-schooled
peers. Kwak cites the results of a study of
pairs of executives at 69 companies that
indicated that the business acumen of CIOs
was equal to that of their executive peers.
Another study of 417 construction company
executives found that eighty percent of the
CIOs in those companies were considered
equal contributors of the strategic decision
making process.22 Therefore, the CTO
should be able to learn from the integration
experience of the CIO. Executive
Committee members should also recognize
that the technological stereotype that was
not accurate for the CIO might also prove to
be inaccurate for the CTO.
If the CTO is to provide business decisions
and advice, there needs to be some measure
of the quality of this advice. The CTOs
performance should be measured against a
plan worked out with the CEO. This plan
may include achieving milestones,
introducing new products, reducing costs,
reducing uncertainty, and selecting the right
research projects to fund. Bill Waite
advocates a customized set of metrics for the
CTO. Within his company, these included
maintaining and teaching technology within
the organization, measuring the speed at
which technology is brought into the
organization, the rate at which the CTO
turns technology into salable intellectual
property, and the CTO’s effectiveness as the
custodian for research and development
money.
Chief Information Officer
Many organizations have a difficult time
separating the responsibilities of the CTO
from those of the CIO, which can make the
working relationship between the two very
difficult. At the 2001 InfoWorld CTO
Forum, CTOs from Sun Microsystems,
eBay, Dell Computer, and other companies
identified their responsibilities as being
externally focused while the CIO’s
responsibilities were internally focused.23
Corporations have realized that they need a
CIO to oversee the application of technology
to internal operations. This has included
computer systems for accounting, billing,
telephony, security, and a host of other
functions. Prior to the creation of the CTO
position, the CIO was the only executive
technologist and was often called upon to
support manufacturing computerization, the
purchase of computer aided design
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
9
packages, and strategic decisions for
injecting technology into products.21
The internal/external division of
responsibilities is a very useful
differentiation, but it leaves significant gray
areas that can result in turf wars between the
two players. Therefore, the CTO’s
relationship with the CIO should be based
on a more clearly defined division of
responsibility. The goal is to create a
complementary and supportive relationship
that maximizes contributions to corporate
strategy and profitability.
Table 2. Key Roles and Responsibilities of Technical Leaders
CTO Technology Strategy. The CTO’s primary responsibility is contributing to
the strategic direction of the company by identifying the role that specific
technologies will play in its future growth. The CTO looks for contributions
that technology can make to the competitive advantage of the company.
Internal Coordination. Identification of the best technologies usually comes
from a strong internal network of people who are in touch with the latest
technologies and understand their potential.
External Partnerships. Like all business professionals, the CTO will be part
of a strong network that includes business partners, academics, government
officials, and technology thought leaders.
CIO Information Technology Application. The CIO leads the application of
information technology to internal processes and services. This person is
responsible for improving the efficiency of internal systems like payroll,
accounting, accounts receivable, labor recording, benefits management,
human resources records, government reporting, and a number of others.
Reduce Internal Operating Costs. The CIO’s systems are focused on
reducing the costs associated with the company operations listed above.
Improve Services to Employees and Partners. CIOs and IT departments have
provided fantastic improvements in employee services in the last two
decades. They have also built systems that allow better information and
financial exchange with business partners.
Chief
Scientist
Technology Creation. Chief Scientists lead teams that are focused on
creating new technologies. Given strategic direction from management,
these teams work to create products or services that make the company’s
strategy possible and that do so in a manner superior to their competitors.
Recognized Leader. Chief Scientists should be recognized leaders in their
technical field. They should be actively involved in professional associations
and conferences with their peers in industry and academia.
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
10
Chief Scientist
Chief Scientists are much more intimately
involved in the day-to-day execution of
scientific and technical projects. Each of
these is usually limited to the laboratory,
division, or facility in which he or she
resides. As described earlier, senior
technologists are often very eager to explore
new areas. But, these explorations should
be harnessed to contribute to the company’s
strategic direction. Earl maintained that a
company should not have a separate
technology strategy. Supporting this
perspective, one study has found that shortterm,
product focused R&D is positively
correlated with the financial performance of
the company, while long-term R&D is
negatively correlated with it.18 That is one
reason that it is important for the CTO to
mentor the Chief Scientists and to direct
their focus such that it contributes to the
success of the company.
Chief Scientists may also have informal
networks of technologists that span business
areas, but they do not have the official
charter to cross-pollinate technologies. The
CTO can organize an internal council of
technologists to search out and apply the
best technologies available across the
company.9 Darren McKnight of Titan
reports that he sponsored internal summits to
bring leading technologists together to share
ideas. He viewed it as his responsibility to
create leverage across many different
business groups to identify potential
combinations of technology that could
become new products or services. He is
currently working on plans to create a
network of technologists similar to that
described by Brunner.7
CMGI was one of the leading incubators of
the Internet business explosion. Daniel
Jaye, the CTO of Engage, a CMGI
incubated company, felt that the crosspollination
of technologies within CMGI
could identify valuable opportunities and
solve local problems. Therefore, acting as
the ad hoc CTO of the parent company, he
organized technology summits for all CMGI
technology leaders. One of these summits
led to the realization that two CMGI
companies were buying services from the
same vendor. The leaders reasoned that the
vendor would be a good fit under the CMGI
umbrella and purchased the company,
reducing outsourcing costs and adding a
proven product to the CMGI family.6
Research and Development Laboratories
Since the 1960s, research and development
laboratories have been transformed from
independent scientists working on
challenging, but questionably marketable
technologies, to organizations that are
expected to make direct contributions to
company profits. The CTO can play an
important role in monitoring and directing
these labs. Erickson et al recommend
several principles that a CTO should use for
directing R&D. First R&D personnel
should be kept in touch with the company’s
customers and markets.25 Few labs can
seclude themselves from the market and
conduct research for its own sake. Second,
the CTO should foster open communications
between R&D staff, manufacturing
engineers, and the marketing department.
Third, the CTO should hold the R&D labs to
schedule and budget commitments. If an
R&D project is not delivering results, it may
need to be terminated and the funds applied
more productively elsewhere. Some longstanding
projects constantly show great
promise and absorb resources, but produce
nothing. These projects, though considered
“pillars of the lab,” must be held
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
11
accountable and face termination if they do
not produce results.11
R&D laboratory budgets should be the topic
of critical reviews by the executive staff.
The CTO should lead initial funding reviews
in which R&D projects present the
expectations for the project, its applicability
to market needs, the position relative to
competitors, and a record of past successes.
The CTO should also hold in-progress
reviews to monitor problems and successes.
A CTO can serve as an honest broker in
these reviews because he or she comes from
outside of the laboratory and is not
personally involved in the projects.10, 14
Sales and Marketing
CTOs like Rajeev Bharadwaj at Ejasent and
Ron Moritz at Symantec are actively
involved in marketing products and services.
These CTOs recognize that some products
are so technically sophisticated that
explaining them to the trade media requires
a technical representative. When the CTO is
used to explain the subtle, but significant,
differences between the company’s products
and those of competitors, he or she becomes
a de facto me mber of the marketing staff.24
Working with the sales and marketing
departments also insures that the CTO
remains rooted in the customers’ need for
the product, rather than the technical
sophistication of the product. Supporting
this perspective, Michael Wolfe of Kana
Communications says that, “Creating a
product is mapping what a customer needs
to what you can build.”6 Making this
mapping requires regular and detailed
interactions with customers and the
marketplace.
Technology and Executive Leadership
Companies began adding Chief Technology
Officers to the executive ranks in the 1980s
because technology was becoming an
integral part of many strategic decisions and
future plans. The CIO already provided
strong expertise on the internal application
of technology. But, senior managers needed
expert advice regarding the inclusion of
technologies in existing products and the
creation of new products and services with
large technical components. A CTO that is
actively involved in monitoring new
technologies, separating marketing rhetoric
from technical facts, and identifying
profitable applications for those
technologies can make a significant
difference in the company’s competitive
future. The CTO can also add value to the
company by participating in government,
academic, and industry groups in a manner
that creates positive attention for the
company.
Technology companies are involved in
thousands of acquisitions every year.
Selecting the best target for an acquisition
often requires reliable advice on technical
issues at the executive level. The CTO is
also a valuable tool in addressing the
increasingly well-informed media about the
products, services, and the future plans of
the company. CTOs can speak as peers to
other technologists and can play a role in
convincing the media that the company’s
decisions are sound and will add value for
the company’s stakeholders.
It is important that the CTO not become the
senior technologist of the company. Instead,
he or she is the senior business executive
with a focus on technology. In the CTO
position, senior management is not looking
for enthusiastic advice from a research
scientist. Instead, they need sound advice
on business decisions involving technology.
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
12
Table 3. CTO Resources for Further Development
Because the CTO position is so new, the literature and resources on the subject are much
more sparse than for any other executive rank. This list provides some of the best
information to educate and direct the CTO.
Research-Technology Management. This publication of the Industrial Research
Institute provides regular articles from CTOs of large companies involved in
pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and the electronics industries. www.iriinc.org
InfoWorld Magazine and Web Site. InfoWorld focuses on CTOs of companies that
provide IT products and services and those serving in government agencies. The articles
often treat the CTO and CIO positions as nearly identical, which is easy to do when the
company is creating IT products and services to sell to CIOs. www.infoworld.com
CTO Forum. This forum is organized by InfoWorld Magazine and focuses on issues in
providing IT services to corporate customers. www.infoworld.com/ctoforum
Local CTO Round Tables. Several regional organizations have emerged which allow
CTOs to network with each other. These CTO Roundtables are often patterned after the
Technology Leadership Council of San Francisco that has served companies in that area
so well for several years.
www.chieftechnologyofficer.org
www.chillarege.com/prof/CTO/
www.technologyleadershipcouncil.org
www.columbustlc.org
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
13
References
1. Larson, C.F. (November, 2001).
Management for the new millennium--
the challenge of change. Research
Technology Management, 44(6), p. 10.
2. Parker, D.P. (2002). The changing role
of the Chief Technology Officer. D.P.
Parker and Associates web site.
http://www.dpparker.com/article_cto_rol
e.html.
3. Lewis, W.W., & Lawrence, H.L. (1990).
A new mission for corporate technology.
Sloan Management Review, 31(4), pp.
57-67.
4. O’Neill, P.H., & Bridenbaugh, P.R.
(November-December, 1992).
Credibility between CEO and CTO – A
CEO’s perspective; Credibility between
CEO and CTO – A CTO perspective.
Research Technology Management,
35(6), pp. 25-34.
5. Thurlings, B., & Debackere, K. (July-
August, 1996). Trends in managing
industrial innovation – first insights from
a field survey. Research Technology
Management, 39(4), pp. 13-14.
6. Aspatore Editors. (2000). Inside the
Minds: Chief Technology Officers.
Bedford, MA: Aspatore Books.
7. McKnight, D. (January, 2002). The role
of the CTO at Titan Corporation.
Personal correspondence with the
author.
8. Gibson, R. (1998). Rethinking the
Future. London: Nicholas Brealey
Publishing.
9. Brunner, G.F. (January, 2001). The Tao
of innovation. Research Technology
Management, 44(1), pp. 45-51.
10. Robb, W.L. (September-October, 1994).
Selling technology to your CEO.
Research Technology Management,
37(5), pp. 43-45.
11. Earl, M., & Feeny, D. (Spring, 1994). Is
your CIO adding value? Sloan
Management Review, 35(3), pp. 11-23.
12. Frick, K.A., & Torres, A. (2002).
Learning from high-tech deals. The
McKinsey Quarterly, 2002(1).
13. Bharadwaj, R. (January, 2002). The role
of the CTO at Ejasent. Personal
correspondence with the author.
14. Media Lab. (2001). Overview of the
MIT Media Lab.
http://www.media.mit.edu/.
15. Waite, W. (January, 2002). The role of
the CTO at Aegis Technologies.
Personal correspondence with the
author.
16. Zeltzer, D. (January, 2002). The role of
the CTO at the Fraunhofer Institute.
Personal correspondence with the
author.
17. Betz, F. (1993). Strategic Technology
Management. New York: McGraw Hill.
18. Roberts, E. (March-April, 2001).
Benchmarking global strategic
management of technology. Research
Technology Management, 44(2), pp. 25-
36.
19. Gwynne, P. (March-April, 1996). The
CTO as line manager. Research
Technology Management, 39(2), pp. 14-
19.
20. Earl, M., & Feeny, D. (Winter 2000).
Opinion: How to be a CEO for the
information age. Sloan Management
Review, 41(2), pp. 11-23.
The Chief Technology Officer: Strategic Responsibilities and Relationships
Research Technology Management, July-August 2003
14
Chief technology officer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)
A chief technology officer (or chief technical officer; CTO) is an executive-level position in a company or other entity whose occupant is focused on scientific and technological issues within an organization. The role became prominent with the ascent of the information technology (IT) industry, but has since become prevalent in technology-based industries of all types (e.g. biotechnology, energy, etc.). As a corporate officer position, the CTO typically reports directly to the chief executive officer (CEO) and is primarily concerned with long-term and "big picture" issues (while still having deep technical knowledge of the relevant field). Depending on company structure and hierarchy, there may also be positions such as director of R&D and vice president of engineering whom the CTO interacts with or oversees. The CTO also needs a working familiarity with regulatory (e.g. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission, as applicable) and intellectual property (IP) issues (e.g. patents, trade secrets, license contracts), and an ability to interface with legal counsel to incorporate those considerations into strategic planning and inter-company negotiations.
Somebody should nominate Bordnynuik for the 2013 Niagara Chief of Technology Of-The-Year Award.
He would at least stand a fighting chance at winning that award, being the only person on the planet with the title.
Hahahahaha, where do you get your info from?
It looks like shareholders are SOL on that one, since Bordnuik is broadcasting loud and clear (if not verbosely) to everyone that a move to St. Louis is imminent.
#6 fuel:
The second one is a more popular placard number around here:
•UN3256, ELEVATED TEMPERATURE LIQUID, FLAMMABLE, N.O.S;
•UN1993, FLAMMABLE LIQUID, N.O.S
What placard would be used if the truck was carrying #6 ?
I will guess the week leading up to the AGM and $3 the week after the AGM.
Any thoughts on when it cracks $2.00 again?
Nice find! It looks interesting!
http://plasticparadisemovie.com/
I am not sure if they would release this info but did you happen to ask what the modifications are to the permit?
The DEC says that " the permit modification could be
issued near the end of June.
Please recognize these are only estimates of time frames."
So it looks like it will be a while before the upgraded permit will be issued.
I wonder if you can take a high sulfur fuel and run it through JBI's process and the end product would be a lower sulfur fuel????
If so the opportunities are endless....
Ship fuel varies mostly based on sulfur content. Each 0.5% reduction in sulfur seems to raise the market price dramatically. Here's a price list from January 2012 but it only goes down to 0.2% sulfur whereas JBII's has even less sulfur than that:
I was just reading through them. Do you recognize any names?
JBI is likely to report several million dollars in losses in a day or two.
How should sharehoders react to that?
I'm ok with it. Its brand new technology and I expect losses. I work for a papermill that recently took 5 years to convert from wood chips to 100% recycled paper. I can't say how much we actually spent on the conversion or spent on upgrades after but it was more money per day than JBI spends per Q!
How will shareholders react to that?
I will be buying more shares.
Will they announce any financing to roll out their often touted Rock-Tenn sites?
JBI's cash burn rate is a huge concern. Continuing to operate unprofitable businesses at a loss can't be a winning strategy for long.
Just bought another 2,800 shares at $1.00!
Thanks!
Now come on Q!
123,500
I dont get it. I had a buy of 5,000 shares @ $0.95 till around noon today and it never filled...
The 'trust me' at the end completly changs my mind!
JBI might be in trouble! haha
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/more-mere-magic-mushrooms-154207424.html
More Than Mere Magic Mushrooms
By Bill Weir, C. Michael Kim, David Miller, Justin Bare & Mark Monroy | This Could Be Big – Thu, 12 Apr, 2012
Email
Print
This week we're talking about fungus two ways. One that can survive exclusively on polyurethane and another that can replace Styrofoam.
Both polyurethane and styrofoam are not biodegradable, so without a solution, all the plastic bottles and old toys we throw out every year will be sitting in landfills for centuries.
Yes, you can recycle plastic, but that just means turning it into another product and recycling hasn't sufficiently slowed the production of new plastic.
According to a Yale study, globally we produced 245 million tons of plastic in 2006, compared to only 1.5 million tons in 1950.
One of the fungi we're looking at is called pestalotiopsis microspora. It was discovered by a group of Yale researchers on an expedition in Ecuador and can subsist on polyurethane alone in airless environments, like the bottom of a landfill.
The other comes from a couple of college friends who discovered that the sticky substance on the bottom of mushrooms called mycelium could be turned into a glue and when that glue is combined with corn husks and other food byproducts it takes on a form similar to Styrofoam. Their company, Ecovative wants used Styrofoam to become mulch, not waste.
A future with less plastic and more mulch, all thanks to fungus.
No immediate relief in sight at the pumps: expert
04/04/2012 10:14:19 PM
CTVNews.ca Staff
Motorists feeling the pinch at the pumps across Central Canada should not expect any relief over the next month with the potential for gas prices to hit $1.50 per litre, says one expert.
I can't wait till it hits $2.50 per litre! GO JBI!!!!
Flammable Liquid 3, Petroleum Distillates, N.O.S. UN 1268,
Well said! Q1 will be great but Q2 and beyond excites me, and I don't get excited about much!
fine wait for it then, wake me up for Q2 and beyond, in the meantime hook me up with more cheaps please!
500,000 litre P.O to an end user!!!!!
This CC is by far better than any JBI agm or cc call and it is not even half over!!!
You know what the sad part is… Plastic that has recently been sent to landfill will still be around for another 100 years :(
I personally believe that plastic is going to be with us on this planet for 100 years...time to solve that problem now. :o)
Where did this powerpoint come from? Is this the one from his last presentation? First time seeing it!
2 DAYS AND COUNTING TO CONFERENCE CALL....
http://www.gflawma.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/jbi.pdf
Dear Valued Shareholder:
Thank you for registering for the JBI, Inc. Investor Update Call, which will be held on Monday, February 27, 2012 at 4:30 pm Eastern Standard Time.
There are 2 ways to participate in the event:
By Telephone – For audio access only.
Online via the Web – For audio access and to view the multimedia presentation.
CALL DATE: Monday, February 27, 2012
CALL START TIME: 4:30 pm EST
Important: We strongly encourage you to review the instructions below on how to join the event prior to the call.
Please note that attendees will only be able to join the call 10 minutes before the scheduled start time. If an individual attempts to login before this 10 minute window, access will be denied.