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Selecting the appropriate acquisition mode for a required technology, is one of the critical strategic decisions in formulating a technology strategy. Although a number of factors were found to be influential in the choice of technology acquisition mode, it still remains a void in the literature how to make a strategic decision, based on a huge set of those factors with the help of a systematic approach. This study deals with the selection of technology acquisition mode as a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. The proposed solution to the problem in this study, is the analytic network process (ANP) approach. Since the ANP is a MCDM method that can accommodate interdependency among decision attributes, it is capable of providing priorities of alternatives with consideration of interrelationships among strategic factors. The 21 influential factors identified from the empirical studies are included as sub-criteria in the ANP model, and they are grouped into five criteria: capability, strategy, technology, market, and environment. The final decision can be made based on the resulting priorities of the alternative acquisition modes. The proposed approach is expected to effectively aid decision making on which mode is adopted for acquisition of required technologies. A case of a software company is presented for the illustration of the proposed approach.

Effective formulation and implementation of technology strategy has been considered as a major driver for competitive advantage of a firm. Although much debate is still going on about how to define the scope of technology strategy, from quite specifically focusing on technology development, to very broad knowledge-based definitions [1], what the literature has in common is that technology strategy can be viewed as a process composed of a series of steps requiring strategic decisions and actions, such as acquisition-management-exploitation [1] and [2]. One of the critical strategic decisions in formulating technology strategy is how to acquire the required technology. Technology acquisition concerns whether to acquire technologies through internal development, cooperating with other firms of institutions, or buying the technology [3]. A variety of technology acquisition strategies (or modes) available and the complexity of modern business environments have led the decision to be intractably difficult. Several empirical studies have been conducted to identify key determinants affecting the choice of technology acquisition mode [4], [5], [6] and [7]. However, there is a missing link between influential factors and final decisions. Although a number of factors were found to be influential in selecting the acquisition mode, it still remains a void in the literature how to make a strategic decision based on a huge set of influential factors with the help of a systematic and quantitative approach. Various approaches, based on mathematical programming, statistical analysis, or multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methods have been proposed to aid decisions both prior to and posterior to selection of technology acquisition mode: selection of technologies to be acquired among identified alternatives, such as technology selection [8], R&D project selection [9], and decisions under the selected acquisition mode such as technology supplier selection [10], go/no-go decision of R&D projects [11]. However, very few systematic approaches have been proposed to selection of technology acquisition strategy, while there is a growing need of employing sophisticated mathematical modelling for such strategy selection problems. This study deals with the selection of technology acquisition mode as a MCDM problem. In MCDM, decision makers evaluate several alternatives using multiple conflicting criteria. The decision environment of selecting technology acquisition strategy constitutes a typical form of the MCDM: selecting the appropriate option among several technology acquisition modes as alternatives by considering various influential factors as criteria. Among a variety of MCDM methods, the analytic network process (ANP) is employed in the proposed approach. The ANP is a generalisation of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which is one of the most widely used MCDM methods [12]. Since the ANP allows for more complex interrelationships among elements, by replacing a hierarchy in the AHP with a network, it is capable of providing priorities of alternatives that capture interrelationships among strategic factors [13]. In particular, the ANP has been proved to be useful for strategy selection problems, since strategic elements that need to be considered in decision making have interdependency to each other at most cases. The example of using the ANP for strategy selection includes business strategy [14], e-business strategy [15], knowledge management strategy [16], and national military strategy [17]. This study also employs the ANP for selection of technology acquisition strategy. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the underlying methodology of the proposed approach, the ANP. The proposed approach is explained in Section 3 and illustrated with a case study in Section 4. The paper ends with conclusions in Section 5.

This study proposed the ANP approach for the selection of a technology acquisition mode. The proposed approach evaluates the appropriateness of alternative modes for technology acquisition, in terms of capability, strategy, technology, market, and environment. The case of a software company was presented for the illustration of the proposed approach. It was shown that the ANP was successfully employed for producing the priorities of the alternative modes, with a consideration of interdependency among decision elements. This paper contributes to the field, by proposing a method for linking influential factors with a final decision. Most of the previous studies were limited to identifying factors affecting the choice of a technology acquisition mode; it has not dealt with how to make a strategic decision based on a huge set of influential factors. The proposed approach incorporates the influential factors identified in the previous studies in the ANP model and helps come to a final decision with those factors, using the ANP procedure. However, the criteria or the alternatives included in the ANP model are by no means exhaustive or fixed. The ANP model can be customised depending on the context. The proposed ANP model in Fig. 1 only includes the three alternative modes for technology acquisition at the high level of aggregation, but they can be divided into more specific forms. If the acquisition mode at the high level is already selected (e.g. Make, Cooperate, or Buy), only the specific modes for the selected mode need to be included (e.g. joint venture, joint R&D, alliance for Cooperate). The criteria can also be added to or removed from the model upon judgment of a firm. The refinement of the proposed approach for more sophisticated modelling will be a fruitful area for future research. The proposed ANP model only mirrors the interdependency among sub-criteria under the same criteria, but there can be interrelationships between sub-criteria in different criteria. Incorporating those relationships in the ANP model is expected to produce more accurate and realistic results. Fuzzy numbers can also be introduced in the pairwise comparison matrices, to more effectively measure the appropriateness in terms of sub-criteria having great uncertainty.