In contemporary business practices, globalisation led to significant shifts. Recently, as a result of ongoing shifts in global markets, technical status has been altered. The rising need and value of technical business operations have prompted interest in fundamental technical and innovation thinking. Several concepts have been developed, for instance, the integrated technology and innovation management concepts that stem from (Bleicher 1991) integrated management theory (Tschirky 2003). Technology management itself acclimates these current environmental factors through a transition from technology management to the management of existing and already developed technology-based firms. This means that technology management is not portrayed as the connection between science and technology (S&T) and management. In comparison, a missed link should be considered, as an important part ‘within’ the management, an activity ‘outside’ the management, technology and innovation management. This move, which essentially happens within large multinational companies, merges the extent of the ‘Integrated Technology and Innovation Management’ in substantial and new technological innovation-based firms, in light of the fact that in new technology-based firms (NTBF), S&T and management are naturally firmly connected (Cavalcante 2013).

The competitive advantage of an organisation is an essential instrument for businesses in market competition and the fundamental technological competencies of entities, like city government or metropolitan cities and municipalities, are believed to be significant tools for institutional development. In recent times, more innovation accomplishments and advanced innovation capability have enabled organisations to gather more specialists and innovative ideas, which are new catalysts for economic growth and development path for any organisation. Similarly, the survival and development of an organisation cannot be detached from the influence emanating from both national and international environments (OECD 1999; Feng et al. 2020). Organisations, including city governments, metropolitan cities and municipalities, anticipate having sustainable competitive advantages and this can be achieved through managing technology and innovation. Notwithstanding the above, only limited organisations can actualise this. Furthermore, with the transformation taking place in societies, the sustainable competitive development of organisations is confronting a tough test (Sutopo, Astuti & Suryandari 2019). The fundamental competency of the city government, metropolitan city or municipalities is the essence competitiveness of such organisations in the market, especially when city governments have to compete with private sectors. Currently, only a few city governments, metropolitan cities and municipalities are in the leading position, in terms of having competitive advantages as a result of technology and innovation. Only those organisations including city governments that can seize the opportunity affect transformations of the management system, institute cutting-edge technology first and conduct innovation research constantly, which can guarantee certain competitive advantages in the long-standing development process (Saura, Debasa & Reyes-Menendez 2019; Sutopo et al. 2019). Therefore, quantitative assessment on managing sustainable competitive advantages through technology and innovation can enhance the understanding of organisations such as city governments further, which is beneficial to enriching and improving the existing management models of organisations like city governments or metropolitan cities.

Every business organisation has several technical functions. Literature demonstrates that companies can use the technology in different ways to retain a competitive advantage including the introduction of new goods and services, improvement in product efficiency, the design and manufacture of tailor-made products for the intended customers (see Table 1). Throughout the distribution of goods and services and even in the manufacturing cycle, technology is being used for day-to-day purposes. A technology-based production company, for instance, is responsible for conversion of raw materials, which contains products, systems and services and the use of available competences and equipment for finished and semi-finished goods and services (Bleicher 1991).

The global business climate is constantly evolving to such an extent that critical changes are needed to prevent adverse effects on the strategies of the company. Companies must adapt to the requirements of their internal and external environments to maintain their marketplace in the sector. Innovation must be based on a new (or significantly enhanced) product, process, technological promotion or organisational strategy. It includes products, processes and strategies initially created by corporations and collected from other institutions or businesses, such as the literature, including product innovation, method innovation, marketing innovation, organisation’s innovation and concept innovation (Gibbons et al. 1994; Yu et al. 2017). All these forms of innovation either refer to the creation of something completely new or the improvement in the products of processes. In a nutshell, innovation is defined by Morck and Yeung (2001), as the implementation of new ideas in the business processes or the first attempts to carry out an idea into practice.

Technological innovation is a diversified aspect, which addresses the acquisition of new products or processes or the use of technology in broad terms, change management. Throughout the process, companies, using a competitor benchmark in the industry, gain competitive advantages by systematically choosing, introducing and leveraging available technology. Considering these contemporary explanations on technological innovations and their implications on competitiveness, early scholarly articles also raise similar arguments. In fact, current scholarly articles on technological innovation build on early works on this subject (Zhang et al. 2018). Seminal works by Subrahmanya (2005), talk about innovation as involving new products and services, new methods of producing and distributing goods, new sources of customers and suppliers, exploration of new markets and new organisation of businesses. There is a need for intensive R&D to ensure that there is continuous innovation in the organisation. On this note, the individuals are the key players in the R&D because without people and the related human capital, there will be no research or any technological and innovation aspects. Thus, this research study seeks to address the issues of managing competitive advantage through technology and innovation by developing a conceptual framework. On the other hand, the study helps to provide an understanding of how technological innovation factors affect the performance of organisation effectiveness.

The problem of competitive advantage and its effect on an organisation’s operations are critical at this juncture. According to Dirisu, Iyiola and Ibidunni (2013), an organisation is believed to have competitive advantage when the existing or prospective competitors cannot match its activities. This can either be because of the lack of capacity of the competitor or the high costs involved in the imitation. In other words, scholars such as Zain et al. (2014), speak of competitive advantage as a situation where the organisation has absolute control over its competition in an area or any line of work such that they have larger market share and operate as market leaders. In terms of product uniqueness as a determinant of a business’s competitive advantage, the goods provided must have a combination of art and the dimensions desired by the available customers. On the other hand, product quality suggests the quality of design from company quality, whereas competitive price refers to the ability of an organisation to adjust its product prices to general market prices (Dirisu et al. 2013).

In addition to the dimensions discussed above, quality products are also determined to be essential for a business’s competitive advantage (Srivastava, Franklin & Martinette 2013). Product quality is founded in the concept of quality management, whereby an organisation aims to satisfy client anticipations and meet the international quality conditions (Case 2002). Similarly, the issue of information management should also be taken into consideration as one of the aspects that is essential for the competitiveness of an organisation (Sambamurthy, Bharadwaj & Grover 2003).

The aspect of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) is a business device that helps business organisations to analyse their strengths in business, weaknesses they face, opportunities available to them and weaknesses involved in operations (Nouri, Karbassi & Mirkia 2008). When the SWOT analysis is completed, a company’s management will have the chance to achieve its goals by using the available resources and finding the obstacles to its capacity and how to reduce or resolve them.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis starts with an environmental scan where the management of an organisation conducts an internal and external environment scan to determine the first stages of the strategic management planning process (see Figure 1). In terms of the internal environmental scan, the organisation conducts an analysis of its internal strengths and weaknesses. According to Riston (2008), the strengths of an organisation refer to the resources available to the organisation and the capabilities at their disposal, which help an organisation to have a competitive advantage against its competitors (Schilling 2008). Some of the common resources that extend the strengths of an organisation include but not limited to the following:

On the other hand, internal environmental analysis also enables an organisation to determine its internal weaknesses (Riston 2008). In other words, the lack of certain strengths in the organisation is regarded as a weakness in the business operations. Literature also notes that the weaknesses of business entity can also be a flip side of its strengths. For instance, large business organisations can have a competitive advantage of their capacity for mass production and benefit from economies of scale, but these can be their weakness if they do not quickly react to the changes in the strategic environment. This implies that instead of benefiting from their capacity, large enterprises will face disadvantages as a result of failure to take advantage of their competitive advantage. According to Nouri et al. (2008), the following are some of the weaknesses identified in the organisation:

To create strategies that consider the SWOT profile, a matrix of these factors can be constructed as presented in the SWOT analysis matrix (see Table 2).

The SWOT analysis matrix (see Table 2) shows the relationship between external and internal environmental analyses. As presented in the above table, the S-O strategies present the relationship between the strengths and opportunities of the organisation and how these can be a good fit in the organisation. Considering this, the organisation makes use of its strengths to efficiently utilise the opportunities available to them (Whalley 2010). On the other hand, the W-O strategies represent the relationship between the weaknesses of the organisation and the available opportunities. On this note, the W-O strategies enable the organisation to try to eliminate all the weaknesses it has that will bar it from utilising the opportunities available to the entity. Contrary to that, the S&T strategies, which show the relationship between the strengths of the business organisation and the external threats, provides management with an opportunity to make use of its internal strengths. This opportunity includes organisational commitment and specialty to reduce the impact of threats available, for example, the threats of competitors (Clardy 2007). The W-T strategies address the weaknesses in the organisation and how they make the available threats a reality. In conclusion, SWOT analysis is an essential step in the strategic planning of an organisation and has an implication in the competitiveness of a business organisation. In a nutshell, the SWOT investigation and the SWOT analysis framework give information that is suitable in directing the organisation’s assets and capabilities to the competitive condition in which it works. In that capacity, it is instrumental in technique detailing and determination.

The research design used in the present study was a comprehensive secondary data analysis. The target population for the study had covered secondary data from Kaohsiung City Government only.

Therefore, the target population was, therefore, specifically on the secondary data sources such as workshops, document analysis/review or desktop study, official statistics, technical reports, scholarly journals, literature review articles, trade journals, reference books, government documents, research institutions, universities, libraries and inter alias. These data were derived from the Taiwanese Nationwide Document Delivery Service (NDDS), through the STPI under the Ministry of Science and Technology that concerns about the Kaohsiung City Government, Taiwan. This was performed in order to obtain relevant secondary data from management information systems (McCaston 1998).

This study approach was selected as it is linked with secondary analysis, which is more cost-effective and suitability. This is also because the secondary dataset is usually easily accessible and the researcher can base his/her project on a large scope of data (McCaston 1998).

The subjective research technique is utilised to assist in answering enquiries concerning the nature of phenomena with the motivation behind depicting and understanding them from the secondary data analysis point of views. The qualitative research methodology eased the analyst to assess things in their natural surroundings, endeavouring to understand, or interpret occurrences concerning the consequences that individuals carry with them.

Johnston (2012) submitted that technological developments have prompted immense measures of information that has been gathered, ordered and chronicled, which is currently effectively available for research. The present study affirms that secondary data analysis is a feasible data analysis technique to be used during the time spent on request when a deliberate method is taken after and gives an explanatory research presentation using secondary data analysis in managing technology and innovation study.

The use of these existing data offers a realistic option to researchers who might have constrained time and resources. This research work emphasises on the attests that secondary data analysis is a reasonable technique to employ throughout the time spent when a methodical technique is taken later. This study contemplates to add to the discourse of secondary data analysis as an exploration strategy for managing technology and innovation for sustainable competitive advantage to illustrate and indicate the technique, advantages and constraints in leading an examination using an optional data inquiry technique.

The idea of secondary data investigation and analysis initially rose with Glaser’s talk of re-breaking down information, ‘which were initially gathered for different determinations’ (Glaser 1963:11); however, there remains a shortage of writing that particularly tends to the procedure and difficulties of directing secondary data enquiry and investigation (Andrews et al. 2012; Smith 2008). Hakim (1982) characterised secondary analysis as:

Most research studies begin with a consideration of understanding what is currently well-known and what remains to be discovered out concerning a point by looking into secondary sources and analyses that others have early led in the scheduled region of conspiracy. Secondary data analysis makes this one advance further, involving a scrutiny of beforehand collected data in the area of interest. Although secondary data analysis is an easy-going methodology and could be utilised in rare diverse methods, it is equally an empirical practice with bureaucratic and evaluative developments, likewise as there are in assembling and measuring fundamental data (Crossman 2019; Doolan & Froelicher 2009). Secondary data analysis is still not fully utilised as a research method in numerous fields, involving the Library Information System (LIS).

Given the undeniable availability of already collected data to researchers, it is imperative to furthermore distinguish secondary data analysis as an orderly research technique. Conversely, various systems are available to direct researchers as they lead secondary data analysis (Andrews et al. 2012; Smith et al. 2011).

Secondary analysis is a methodical technique with technical and evaluative phases and still, there is a non-existence of writing to portray a certain technique; thus, this article suggests a technique that commences with the improvement of the research questions, at that point the identification of the dataset and by means of assessing the dataset. This system is represented by the present research in which the investigator examined the ways to deal with managing technology and innovation for competitive advantage.

The key benefits related to secondary analysis are the cost viability and suitability it offers. Because another individual has effectively collected the data, the investigator does not require to dedicate monetary assets for the collection of data. At the stage, when great secondary data are reachable, investigators can obtain and utilise high-quality larger datasets, for instance, those collected by sponsored studies or organisations that composed of bigger samples and hold substantial coverage. The bigger samples are more demonstrative of the target population and consider more noteworthy legitimacy and more generalisable conclusions. Having admittance to this kind of data provides access to all investigators, even the beginner or unfunded researcher, consequently levelling chances and building limit with respect to empirical study (Johnston 2012) in the LIS enquire about.

This article followed all ethical standards for a research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Under this section, we discuss the findings from the present investigation, particularly in terms of R&D and more specifically, how R&D is used at Kaohsiung City Government to enhance technology and innovation.

Technological and innovative components are factors that are being utilised for assessing accessible choices concerning technological competences. Many organisations think of them as a vital instrument for enhancing activities and functions. Technological variables are one of the different external environment factors that influence organisations significantly and are likewise an indispensable part of the PESTLE investigation. In the present situation, most extreme reliance on hardware, innovative elements can have more impact on business activity and achievement all around than at any other time (KCG 2017).

Cities in Taiwan are densely populated areas with greatly developed industry and commerce, particularly Kaohsiung City as an economic hub for Taiwan. They normally comprised well-designed functional zones, for example, residential, industrial and commercial zones, and have administrative jurisdiction (Wu et al. 2018). Smart cities use information technology in these zones to offer a range of convenient smart applications and deliver various services in order to enable them to promote a much more harmonised public and natural development.

Government strategy and different guidelines, ideologies and directions affect the company’s technology and innovation system and its endeavours towards advancement of both as far as financing and arrangement of rules for improvement are concerned. At a large-scale level, a portion of the basic components are strategies embraced to advance macroeconomic dependability, policies warranting resources allotment as per the most preferred angle, quick gathering of physical and human capital, improvement of horticultural sector and advancing skilful administrations (Dasgupta 2009).

However, in Taiwan, there is a need to balance technology and innovation policies that help conventional industry with provisions that better react to issues of rivalry and enterprise development (Sağ, Sezen & Güzel 2016). Whilst the progression measures attempted by the Central Government hit hard the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which thought that it was difficult to survive the aggressive competitive, the expenditure plan of the central government presented an exceptional arrangement for enhancing credit streams to the SMEs. This is quite like what happened in China, whereby the government is dedicated to drive various administrative changes and institutional reforms that are essential to improve the Chinese learning creation and innovative capacities. This is demonstrated in the expansion in R&D funding. Most importantly, the ‘open policy strategy’ rehearsed by the government remains the genuine key to the adjustment in development elements and advancement (Huang et al. 2010).

The regulatory boundaries to entry furthermore play a critical role in determining the dominance of companies in certain areas. Thus, strengthening of patent laws equally assumes a critical part in changing institutions from imitators to pioneers (Kale & Little 2007). The expanding significance of ecological issues prompts technological innovation transformation and organisational change to endorse it (Cozzarin, Kim & Koo 2017).

Based on the result of reviewing and evaluating the relevant literature and theories taken together, a model was developed and proposed. This model describes the relationship between technology and innovation management strategy, technological innovation and organisational factors. Technological innovation in an organisation is determined by its technology and innovation management strategy, which has its origins in the business strategy of the organisation or firm. The feedback attained from the application of technological innovation and the progression of technology should form the foundation for the organisation to evaluate its technology and innovation management strategy. The function of the government along with several directives, the technology foresight, the technology and innovation scouting all have positive effects on the organisation’s technology and innovation management strategy. However, the organisational factors, technology foresight, as well as technology and innovation scouting all play a significant role in establishing a learning environment to encourage the management of technology innovation for sustainable competitive advantage. The bi-directional arrow between technology and innovation management strategy and organisational factors visualises that it is not only the organisation’s technology and innovation management strategy, which has an effect on diverse organisational factors. However, different factors such as the expertise level and accumulated experience of employees play a significant role in relation to the organisation’s option of technology and innovation management strategy for implementation. The outcome on evaluation of effects on managing technology and innovation for sustainable competitive advantage can be measured as organisational performance with respect to its operations and business effects on service delivery. The model depicted in Figure 4 has to be empirically tested out for its feasibility.

Managing sustainable competitive advantage through technology and innovation is a complex issue and needs further consideration as far as theoretical development and approaches to the management of technology and innovation are concerned. This investigation was provoked and driven by the absence of consideration given in the available literature and the framework (theory) to the impact and strategies of managing sustainable competitive advantage through technology and innovation in the metropolitans or municipals and local authority governments context, especially in the public sectors of the local authorities’ governments (Hunting, Ryan & Robinson 2015). This research study distinguished various key persuading factors such as competitive advantage, public concerns and expectations, organisation’s competence, costs included in managing technology and innovation, rapidly advancing technologies, ageing technology and under-investment and top management commitment, which can be established into new theories and hypotheses for additional testing and improvement (Desouza et al. 2015). This decrease of information by distinguishing key components is critical for framing future research.

At the same time, the conceptual framework developed in this study, reflecting the bond between managing competitive advantage techniques through technology and innovation and business performances can be applied to different business sectors of the central government, to different businesses or to different countries confronted by similar challenges and issues of managing technology and innovation (Desouza et al. 2015).