No abstract

New technologies have major effects on the profitability of companies and the economic growth of society. If appropriate technologies can be routinely selected, then it is possible to achieve sustainability at a company level. Knowledge management (KM) can be used to support technology decision making and give an understanding of the potential of particular technologies in a specific business environment. In this study, the design research methodology (DRM) is used with three case studies in an industry environment to develop and evaluate a novel technology valuation method (TVM). The proposed six-step TVM focuses on the acquisition, modeling, and validation of product-related knowledge to support KM related to technology decisions. The contribution of this research is to use distinctions between product properties and behaviors with a disposition toward understanding the potential of technology. During the process, tacit knowledge is made visible and documented, which supports the reliability of technology decisions and enables companies to gain sustainability.

The aim of this paper is to the advance pragmatic constructivist understanding about communication in the productdevelopment context. In particular, the paper provides new understanding about how proactive truth about designknowledge can be constructed and communicated within product development actors. The paper shows how companyrepresentatives in the manufacturing environment, e.g., managers and engineers can together understand the customervalue-creation mechanisms of a specific product and integrate their expert knowledge into visual form. Building thecollective understanding requires communication between these actors. Ultimately, the actors may be able to construct auseful proactive truth about related business potentials and thereby support technology management in the productdevelopment context.