[Study] [Show&Tell] Separating Signal from Noise: Evaluating Emerging Technologies

Hoang Tran - Show & Tell

Selected Research: Separating Signal from Noise: Evaluating Emerging Technologies

Research question

How to make informed choices-by separating signal from noise-when evaluating emerging technologies?

Why the question is interesting

Number of new emerging technologies dramatic increase over time. According to Tiwana (2014), CIOs are getting more difficulties when perform selecting the worth one for investments and how to successfully do so at the early lifecycle of technologies due to bias and distortion (low signal-to-noise ratio in which signal is the potential of the technology and noise is the uncertainty ) . This question directly address this significant difficulty.

The method of inquiry

This research used qualitative method in which Professor Amrit Tiwana performed in-depth unstructured interviews with senior managers in U.S and Japan in 2012 and 2013. These senior managers came from several industries including appliances, pharmaceuticals, aviation and services with multinational operations.  Besides, 105 senior IS managers were surveyed to gain insights into the governance of emerging technologies (Tiwana, 2014).

How the data was analysed

Cases 's patterns were identified using Cross-case analyses.

Alternative methods that might have been used

The alternative methods can be gathering statistical data related to the Success/Failure rate of implementing emerging project to find out source of noise. Besides, case studies taken from around the world can be used to analyse and therefore, reduce the research geographical  limitation (in U.S and Japan)

The research findings

CIOs can reduce the difficulties of evaluation emerging technologies (low signal-to-noise ratio) either by:
1. Reducing the noise: or reducing uncertainties by understanding the source of bias and distortion that negatively affect the accuracy of evaluation process. Besides, The research mentioned 3 significant source of noise include (1) Illusion of Joint Probabilities; (2) Confusing Different Types of Uncertainties; (3) Timing Misjudgment.
2. Amplifying weak signal: or amplify the potential recognition probability of any emerging technology by using 3 provided broadly applicable framework. They are (1) Innovation Mode, (2) Cube Shifting, and (3) Emerging Technology Governance.

Reference

Tiwana, A. (2014) 'Separating Signal from Noise: Evaluating Emerging Technologies', MIS Quarterly Executive, 13(1), pp. 45-61. Available at: http://misqe.org/ojs2/index.php/misqe/article/view/518 (Accessed 15 September 2015).