Strategic Marketing Management in Hi‐tech Industries: A Stock‐taking

In the 1970s, when management hoped to secure growth and success through classical diversification strategies, a new gleam of hope in the form of“high‐tech” seemed to appear on the horizon. Encouraged by the remarkable success of young enterprises like Compaq or Lotus, and unnerved by constant talk of the erosion of the technological potential of Europe and the USA, more and more enterprises tried to catch the high‐tech wave. Many former European and American market leaders who had lost their competitive advantages to Japanese rivals saw technology itself as the panacea. However, over time, it has become ever clearer that the success of high‐tech products did not rest exclusively or even predominantly with technological know‐how and thus research and development, but derived more from industrial conditions and, above all,effective marketing.