Business vs Technology - what comes first?

I recently had a discussion about the business and technology with a friend, over which is more important (in an organization). My friend was of the opinion that technology was more important in a technology company than business management

Two interesting points came out of it:

-- 1 --
There is some confusion between management as an unqualified term (which may imply people or project management) and business management (i.e., what an MBA would do), and between development (what developers do and development managers manage) and technology (the invention/innovation that is being "developed"). The focus should be between business management and technology, not management and development.

-- 2 --
Both business management and technology are important in their roles.
Take the analogy of a bus. The bus is the business potential, the driver is the business manager and the engine is the technology. Now, without the driver telling it what to do and where to go, the engine is of no practical use. Alternately, without the engine, the driver can't do anything.

Now lets look at it a bit deeper.

Without the engine, the driver could still potentially get 20 people to carry the bus to where he wants it to go (i.e. using the same business model but much less efficiently), or get 10 people to carry a minivan instead (scale the business model down). However, without the driver, the engine is still useless (unless ANOTHER driver with ANOTHER bus - i.e. another business potential - can use it, which still means a driver is needed). This showcases the role of business as a technology consumer - without the consumer, there is no product.

Alternately, without the design of an engine (or its practical implementation - the actual engine), the driver would either not be able to envision the concept of a bus (i.e. untapped market need) or would not have a job (i.e. no "realizable" business potential). This showcases the role of technology as a business enabler - without the means, you can't achieve the goal.

A bit deeper?

I would argue that innovation is the mother of invention, and necessity is the mother of innovation. Transitively, necessity (market, i.e. business potential) is the mother of invention (i.e. technology). And you need a business manager, not a technologist, to realize a business potential and create the concept of a product. Of course, they could be one and the same person, but we are talking roles here.

Back to the bus - the bus driver should have ideally realized the concept of mass-moving people from one location to another. The engine would then just be the technology chosen to fulfill that need.

This is not rocket science. However, the ideal is far from the reality. So the roles of business management and technology are perhaps more parallel than sequential, especially in cutting-edge fast-paced technological fields like the internet.