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Across the cases, innovation leaders demonstrated how they used a synthesis of technologies to develop new or improved products and services. Examples from the case studies were used to demonstrate these actions while answering Research Question

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One. To avoid repetition of examples in the cross-case analysis repeated excerpts from the data are referenced back to where they appear in the research question.

4.10.1 Case Study One

Case Study One demonstrates the innovation leader’s synthesis of existing technologies in the following ways:

Respondent One used a synthesis of aerodynamics, composite materials, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and mechanical bearings technologies to develop high efficiency equipment for the mining industry. To avoid repetition, the evidence is reported in section 4.1, Research Question One (P 1: Case study 1.rtf - 1:9 & 1:4, P11: Case study 1 on-line media company A.rtf - 11:5)

4.10.2 Case Study Two

Case Study Two demonstrates the innovation leader’s synthesis of existing technologies in the following ways:

Respondent Two used a synthesis of electronic technologies integrating electronic hardware and software to develop a unique multimedia device.

“The innovation relied on the chipsets available. The Silicon Manufacture makes the chipset and we build our peripherals such as HD and 4K around the chipset. This locks you into a certain chipset manufacture.” P 2: Case study 2.rtf - 2:2

“We got funding to go and spend three months learning about electronic supplier C technology to use as a module into the product development.” P 2: Case study 2.rtf - 2:21

“You are locked onto that hardware now you can only innovate around software, so there is software and hardware component to our innovative processes.” P 2: Case study 2.rtf - 2:3

4.10.3 Case Study Three

Case Study Three demonstrates the innovation leader’s synthesis of existing technologies in the following ways:

Respondent Three used a synthesis of existing mining equipment technology and combined it with new wear and chemically resistant materials that were specifically suited to the particular minerals being mined.

“In particular the material and construction plays a very critical role and if you are not using the correct material for the application you will have a failure immediately.” P 3: Case study 3.rtf - 3:10

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“The first challenge was how to solve the problem of wear as a result of the solids and the only way we could solve that was by selecting a material that could handle wear. Then we got into the process side and the challenge was to deal with acidic liquids, so it was a totally new material again. The composition of the material in our products has always been challenging as every single application in the mines are different, so you have to really understand the chemical composition of the mined mineral concerned.” P 3: Case study 3.rtf - 3:12

“Going from the gold mines into the coalmines was like two different worlds and slowly we got involved in virtually every single mining type in South Africa and based on what we picked up we managed then to put a database together where we could comfortably select a material for an application because we had already gone through the pains of the research, which materials work, which don’t work.” P 3: Case study 3.rtf - 3:14

4.10.4 Case Study Four

Case Study Four demonstrates the innovation leader’s synthesis of existing technologies in the following ways:

Respondent Four used a synthesis of existing manufacturing and three-dimensional printing rapid prototyping technologies to develop new sanitary ware products.

“What we would usually do is first a design concept phase from which we grew 3D samples. The printed 3D samples of those conceptual products we either painted or chromed and then put on little display plinths. They then went out to a couple of key people in the market such as architects, specifiers, quantity surveyors in some instances merchants. This was done to test their feeling on the product. Do you like it, do you not like it, what selling point do you think this would reach? If you had to stock how many would you stock? Who would you sell it to, where do you see this product? That usually happens with a new design.” P 4: Case study 4.rtf - 4:2

“From a business perspective, innovation initiatives tie up a huge amount of resources not just in terms of working capital but also space and operations capacity. Because innovation initiative ties up resources we have been forced to change how we innovate and develop new products into a more modular system so that we share components, we share platforms and we share functionality. From the business planning point of view, this approach eliminated a whole lot of working capital and uses less space in the assembly plant. Fitting in with the

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shared modular approach ensures assembled methods and time are optimised.” P 4: Case Study Four.rtf - 4:95

4.10.5 Case Study Five

Case Study Five demonstrates the innovation leader’s synthesis of existing technologies in the following ways:

Respondent Five used a synthesis of existing cellular phone technology and information technology to create a new financial service offering for their clients.

“Operational highlights Cell-phone registered customer base reached two million in May 2010. Service A (only a cell-phone number required) was launched in November 2009 and transactions through this channel have exceeded R100 million.” P28: Case study 5 operational results.rtf - 28:3

“How it worked say for example Service A, the implementation is always shared across Business Units (BU). To roll out Service A, we needed BU 1, BU 2, BU 3, BU 4 and BU 5. These are all separate teams’ business units in their own right. The development of the information technology and the implementation aspect is shared and then your core that is inside your business unit and they are dedicated.” P 5: Case Study Five.rtf - 5:89

4.10.6 Case Study Six

Case Study Six demonstrates the innovation leader’s synthesis of existing technologies in the following ways:

Respondent Six used a synthesis of existing programming languages and hardware interfaces to create a new generic software platform that can be customised to manage any kind of inventory item across diverse industries.

“We as a company have created a piece of software that can service A pretty much any inventory item that you can think of. The benefits of this software are we do not have to keep redeveloping solutions for different kinds of inventory items. It does not matter what industry or inventory item there is a certain generic function that is always required when using service A on something of value.” P 6: Case study 6.rtf - 6:1

“At the heart of Case study 6’s offering is its award winning proprietary in-house developed generic inventory service engine. The technology is based on a customizable generic business rules with easily configured to industry specific

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wrappers. This allows the technology to seamlessly address a wide range of industries.” P33: Case study 6 company profile.rtf - 33:1

4.10.7 Case Study Seven

Case Study Seven demonstrates the innovation leader’s synthesis of existing technologies in the following ways:

The team of Respondents in Case Study Seven used a synthesis of existing scanning technology and their understanding of the medical diagnostic environment to develop a rapid low dose scanning system for medical applications.

“They developed a security scanning system and showed it to doctors from Hospital A suggesting that there might be a medical application for this technology. What they did was to build a working mock-up of the security system and installed that at Hospital A where the doctors were actually able to experiment with this machine to determine the potential for medical applications. The potential was confirmed but there was some features missing and quality of the images needed improvement. That is when they decided to start working on a medical model which we built a first prototype that was then also tested at Hospital A.” P 7: Case study 7.rtf - 7:5

“An innovative team of engineers developed a device that was implemented with success in the security industry. When the core group of engineers realized that such technology could be of immense benefit in the world of medicine, particularly for Emergency and Trauma centres, they formed the Case study 7 company, to further develop the technology for medical use and encourage its sale and distribution worldwide. After some experience it was found that the Case study 7 medical device was also ideal for use by forensic pathologists (medical examiners), as it assisted them in getting an accurate full body assessment quickly.” P35: Case study 7 company webpage.rtf - 35:1

4.10.8 Summary of Technology cross-case analysis

The cross-case analysis of technology used by innovation leaders observed replication across the cases, as shown in Table 11 below. The analysis found that all innovation leaders use a synthesis of existing technologies to develop innovative products and services.

140 Cross-case summary for the synthesis of technology used by innovation leaders C a s e On e C a s e Tw o C a s e Thr e e C a s e Fou r C a s e Fi v e C a s e S ix C a s e S e v e n

Technology synthesis used for innovation _{Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes}

Table 11: Cross-case analysis of technology means of innovation