Purpose of the paper
The effective management of technological innovation has always played a pivotal role as a source of competitive advantage for companies in different industries (Davila et al., 2005; Schilling, 2005). The academic literature is full of works regarding this aspect. However, many of them did not deal with the last frontier of science, the nanotechnology, from a commercial and managerial perspective (Miller et al., 2005).
During the 90s the hype for nanotechnology has grown rapidly, but several business projects in this direction failed or did not find a return on investment. This was mainly due to the fact that a number of obstacles had been underestimated, focusing primarily on the scientific research rather than on the commercial potential of these projects (Miller et al., 2005).
The present work aims at: (i) providing a rational analysis of successful strategies used to commercialize nanotechnological applications by big multinational companies; (ii) deriving a framework of best practice for bringing to market nanotechnological applications.

Related work
The first key research to which this work is related is the scientific literature related to the management and commercialisation of technological innovation (e.g. Chesbrough, 2003; Davila et al., 2005; Schilling, 2005; Slater and Mohr, 2006).
Then, the existing research specifically conducted on the management and commercialisation of nanotechnology has been analysed (e.g. Chiesa et al., 2005; Brookstain, 2005; Miller et al., 2005). However, thanks to the novelty of the nanotech market, a small number of academic works on the nanotech business were found in the literature. These were therefore integrated with reports drawn from various sources (Caravita, 2004; McKinsey & Company, 2004; LuxResearch, 2004; Nanotech/It, 2004; www.nanoinvestornews.com, 2004; www.nanovip.com, 2004).

Design/Methodology/Approach -
The development of the findings has been done starting from the existing state-of-the-art. Initially, emphasis was on in-depth analysing the scientific literature on the commercialisation of technological innovations. This allowed the authors to point out the most important aspects to be considered for bringing to market a technological innovation. Then, the attention was shifted to the small number of academic works specifically related to the management of nanotechnology. They were integrated with reports drawn from consultancy companies. This made possible the development of a taxonomy of nanotechnological applications.
Then, using this taxonomy for identifying the nanotech companies, a multiple case-study was conducted, aimed at investigating the process of commercialization of nanotech applications within ten big multinational companies. The case-studies were conducted through personal interviews with corporate executives involved in the commercialisation of nanotech applications. The empirical study involved both cases of successful commercialisation and cases of companies which failed in the commercialisation of nanotechnological applications. The comparison between the successful and the unsuccessful cases made possible the development of a framework of best practices for bringing to market nanotech applications.

Findings -
The study provided the following insightful results. The stage of deployment differs considerably in different industries. The nanotechnological applications are more widespread in electronics, microscopy and semiconductor exposure equipment rather than in healthcare and material science.
In fact, in the last industry there is a high pressure on costs, so the growth of nanotechnological innovations is sometimes depressed.
The most diffused entry strategy is internal development and a few competences are outsourced. There is a centralization of decision making on these projects, thus the research laboratories are always located in the company’s headquarters, while the local offices around the world have only a sales function.
In electronics, different competitors establish a consortium to define the roadmap for a product development with the same market standards.
The extreme complexity of the applications requires a strict relationship with the customers to co-develop a product that best suits their needs, thus supplier is responsible for the maintenance of the instruments sold and frequently organizes learning programs for the customers. At this high level of innovation there is much more tension to create a confidence atmosphere with them rather then to propose new breakthroughs with higher level of performance.
Multinational companies generally create either a “new business” organizational unit that serves as an incubator to conduct market tests, or an intermediate manager figure between the R&D department and the Marketing department trying to match the needs of both sides.
The empirical study allowed the authors to: (i) point out the critical success factors for the commercialisation of nanotechnological applications; (ii) develop a conceptual framework for choosing the right market approach and defining the strategy a big multinational company should set in order to commercialise nanotech applications.

Research limitations/implications
The paper has attempted to shed some light on a complex issue. However, it should be noted that the previous conclusions on the validity of the proposed framework can not be definitive. The investigation described in the paper represents an exploratory study and attention must be paid in the interpretation of the study’s findings, especially in any attempts to generalise these to a broader population. Further research could be aimed at evaluating and testing the proposed framework on a wider base of case studies. Finally, the nature of the study was mainly qualitative. The use of quantitative research methodologies might increase the rationality and the objectivity of the findings. The ongoing research project means to complete the evaluation of the validity of the proposed framework.

Practical implications
Corporate executives, if they are to successfully bring to market nanotech applications, need to be more familiar with the managerial implications associated with the commercialization of nanotechnological applications. The paper has made a step forward in this direction. In fact, it has provided a framework which can be used by corporate executives in big multinational companies for making decisions related to how to commercialise nanotech applications.

Originality/value of the paper
The novelty of the paper is in the fact that it studies a specific topic in an emerging market (nanotechnology). In fact, in the management literature the studies on the nanotechnology industry have been rather neglected. The originality of the paper can be identified both in the methodological approach adopted and in the framework of best practice for the commercialisation of nanotech application, which is completely new and cannot be found in the existing state-of-the-art.