High Technology Firm 2014: What's Inside?

What are the features that make high technology firms competitive and attractive to investors? 

This is not an idle question. Managing high technology firms is a huge challenge. Investing into them is even more challenging. Establishing productive relations between researchers, managers and investors is the major enigma of successful high technology business. 

That is caused by VUCA market-technology environment that makes sailing the high technology business waters really rough. Reminding those who dare the rhyme: "Three wise men of Gotham, They went to sea in a bowl. And if the bowl had been stronger, My song had been longer." This is sport like no other.

In order to perform better, business leaders of high technology firms have to be agile and lean, while practicing trend watching, value nurturing, total learning management, talents curation, technology planning, and engaging clients via iterative inbound marketing campaigns.  

How China Performs in Innovation and University Rankings

As China becomes the world's largest economy, its innovation and higher education capabilities call for more attention. Are they about to become China's major economic drivers? How does innovation converge into Chinese economy? What Chinese universities are the flagships of bringing new knowledge into the country? 

How to Sell High-Tech Products at Virtual Trade Shows? Interview with Jeffrey Kleinpeter, CEO at Virtuelle Cluster Initiative

Virtual trade shows are becoming the common tool for promoting high-tech products at business to business markets. Trade shows are second most effective lead generation tactic after company website according to "B2B Lead Generation Marketing Trends 2013" survey. However, participation in physical trade shows has many inconveniences - high expenditures, logistical puzzles, too much noise. Virtual trade shows are free of these disadvantages.

The virtual trade show market has more than doubled in a year from 2009 to 2011 and is expected to demonstrate an annual growth rate above 50% through 2018. While virtual trade show technology is in its infancy today, many companies are yet to discover it.

The recent interview with  Jeffrey Kleinpeter, Ceo at Virtuelle Cluster Initiative, who hosts exhibition online, helps to learn about the new opportunities it has for B2B lead generation and converting them into sales.

Online Community Building 3C Model: Communication Management that Engages

Nurturing of interactions is the locus of the community development. The more people join the community and stay constructively active within it, the better. 

Essentially, the most popular metrics for assessing the community performance are a) number of members, and b) number of community interactions within recent period. 

Building community is about growing these engagement indicators during all stages of community life cycle:
1. Conceptualization and launch.
2. Engagement growth.
3. Mature collaborations.

It is implied – very tacitly though – that communication management plays the central role through all stages of online community life cycle. But to achieve the expected results in community development one should be really consciousness how the different aspects of communications should be handled during this process.

Guest Post: Top 5 Bioenergy Companies in Social Media Ranked by Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Penetration

This guest post is by Oleksandra Karavan, content marketing analyst.

How successful are bioenergy companies in using social media platforms to deliver a valuable content to their customers? See how this is done by the top bioenergy companies in social media penetration. 

The benchmarking of the best bioenergy companies in social media is based on the ranking “The 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy for 2012-13” created by the world’s most widely read biofuels daily “Biofuels Digest”. The total reach of audience, in particular number of Facebook likes as well as Twitter and LinkedIn followers, is used as a major social media metric. 

Applying Agile Marketing Principles to Non-IT High-Tech Domain

Agile marketing term is coined recently by IT marketers at the “Agile Marketing Manifesto”. This implies that agile marketing concept belongs to high-tech domain. But what about other high-tech sectors? How are agile marketing principles applicable there? What process areas of high-tech marketing are affected? And what are the first lessons that can be learned from those pioneers who try to implement Agile marketing principles in non-IT areas?

New Updates to High-Tech B2B Marketing Capabilities Model: Customer Community Management, Sales and Channel Enablement

Please, welcome the new entrants to  High-Tech B2B Marketing Capabilities Model. They are:
(1) Customer Community Management; 
(2) Sales Enablement; and 
(3) Channel Enablement.

According to Edward Hadley who cites the Forrester Research, Inc. report released in June 2012 customer community management accounted for 9 percent of all high-tech marketing expenditures in 2012, while channel and sales/field enablement - for 8 percent correspondingly. Backed by the money they are no more the buzzwords only, sir!

Those terms are not coined in Wikipedia yet. You will scarcely find scholar papers on them. Several years will pass until you will read about them in the textbook. But companies allocate budgets,  hire people and develop job descriptions for them. They are part of volatile competitive landscape already. And let's review them with all due respect.