Author Description

America's fastest-growing cutting-edge companies, high-technology businesses, have been celebrated and popularized but not well understood. This comprehensive examination of high-technology businesses explores over 100 high-technology ventures and another 200 high-technology firms to discover what work is done, who does it, how it is done, and the business performance results of these activities.Starting with commonly-used definitions of technology-based business, authors Eric Bolland and Charles W. Hofer establish the scope of science- and engineering-based firms. They trace the history of high technology to World War II defense research, and show that the term "high technology" is itself much more recent. In-depth on-site visits to several high-technology firms, including industrial giant Hewlett Packard, reveal the inner workings of these companies. Interviews with key venture capitalists show how they help launch firms, continue capitalizing them, and decide which companies to support. Bolland and Hofer examine how issues such as size, location, local governments, and available resources affect these firms.High-technology companies are truly "future firms" leading the way to innovation for all businesses. This book shows how that happens.