R&D projects in the science sector

The purpose of this research was to determine and analyse diversity in various features of R&D projects implemented in the science sector in Poland, financed mostly from public funds. More exactly, the following aspects of R&D projects implemented in the science sector in Poland were examined: the relation between the actually achieved and the initially set goal, the project management methodologies and project time management methods used, features of the project team, the relation between the plan and the actual project realisation and management difficulties encountered in practice. These aspects and their diversity were examined in the context of the whole country, of various fields of science and various research units implementing pure research (the ‘R’ area) or applied research and experimental development (the ‘D’ area). The research was conducted by means of survey methodology covering a sample of participants of R&D projects in the science sector in Poland. The results were analysed by means of statistical methods (which constitutes a clear novelty with respect to the existing literature on R&D projects) and statistically significant phenomena gave rise to several important conclusions on how R&D projects implemented in the science sector are managed and what their realisation looks like in various fields of science and various institutions, in a relatively new EU members state and a former communist country like Poland. These conclusions may be the basis for important hypotheses (which require further research) on the project management quality in the science sector in Poland and in similar countries, which is closely linked to the problem of public money allocation, its efficient spending and control. Also, practical suggestions on improvement measures in the science sector with respect to R&D projects, limited not only to countries like Poland, but of a more general nature, are formulated.     

Person–project fit and R&D performance: a case study of Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan

This study examined the relation between the research and development (R&D) performance and the fit between a researcher's cognitive type and the task demand of the project that was implied in Wang, Wu & Horng's (1999) study. Three hundred and eighteen research projects completed by 205 project leaders in the 3 years were classified into Unsworth's four creativity types along two dimensions: (1) whether the research addressed an open- or closed-ended problem and (2) whether the project was assigned or actively sought by the researcher. Each researcher's personal traits were assessed using Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Kirton's Adaptor–Innovator Scale (KAI). Results show that researchers with a conforming, feeling, or judging-type cognition performed better with assigned projects for solving closed problems. Those with an originality and intuitive-type cognition performed better on self-initiated projects for solving open-ended problems. Researchers with sensing-type cognition performed better with assigned projects for solving open-ended questions. Thus, a careful match between a researcher's cognitive type and the task demand of project is important for R&D management.     

Capital Budgeting Practices for R&D: A Survey and Analysis of Business Week's R&D Scoreboard

This paper discusses results of a survey of U.S. Corporations regarding the extent of the utilization of standard capital budgeting measures of investment worth to evaluate R&D projects. This study analyzes responses by three types of R&D activity: Basic, Applied and Development research. The results indicate that discounted cash flow methods are widely utilized in the evaluation of Development projects, and the analysis of Development projects is as sophisticated as the evaluation of non-R&D projects. The use of discounted cash flow analysis techniques for Applied projects is considerably less widespread than for Development projects. However, the utilization of Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return increases with firm size. Basic research projects are much less likely to be subjected to a formal economic analysis and are generally thought of as being “strategic” investments. This research also indicates that post-audits of Applied and Development projects are based on economic measures, whereas Basic research projects focus on physical or operational goals. Lastly, this research indicates that most R&D projects are terminated because R&D priorities have changed rather than because they are not technically feasible.     

The Roles of Marketing and Industrial Design in Discontinuous New Product Development*

Radical or “discontinuous” products based on new technological breakthroughs are playing an ever‐increasing role in the success of firms. However, little research has been conducted that investigates the roles of marketing and industrial design (ID) in the development of these types of products. Further, past research has tended to overlook the role that industrial design, and the impact of the marketing‐industrial design interaction, can have on the development of discontinuous new products. Frequently, the term design is used broadly or is equated with engineering; thus, while the marketing–research and development (R&D) interaction is studied, the marketing–ID as well as the industrial design–R&D relationships are not considered. This article examines the roles of marketing and industrial design in the product development process for discontinuous innovations. Specifically, questions concerning how and the degree to which marketing and industrial design are integrated into the development process are investigated. The investigation employs multiple methods, or triangulation, in order to secure an in‐depth understanding of the roles of these disciplines. In the course of examining these questions, key factors influencing industrial design and marketing involvement are identified and preliminary models are examined. The research, which was conducted in two phases, employed a mixed‐method, multiple sample design. The methods used included a survey, field observation study, and depth‐interviewing. Data were collected from three different samples: R&D managers, project team members (including personnel from various disciplines—marketing, R&D, industrial design, engineering, etc.), and industrial design managers. The use of the different data sources and sampling of various groups of managers was employed in order to provide a rich context for investigating the research questions of interest. In addition, a preliminary analysis of factors (e.g., degree of product discontinuity, product innovation objectives, process discontinuity, process formality) identified in the first phase was conducted, and these relationships were explored further in the second phase of the research. Findings across the two phases of this research suggest that the development of discontinuous new products involves a process that is different from more conventional new product development—particularly as it concerns the roles of marketing and industrial design. The high degree of discontinuity inherent in such projects, along with the strong R&D orientation often surrounding them, results in delayed involvement of marketing and ID, as well as altering their roles in the new product development (NPD) process. Factors such as the degree of product discontinuity (DPD), process discontinuity (PCD), and process formality (PF) seemed to exert a differential influence on the involvement of marketing and ID. Although their roles and involvement are altered in discontinuous new product development, this research suggests that marketing and ID roles in this context involve increased challenges with respect to validation of key assumptions and product application directions. Additionally, managers operating in this development context need to explicitly consider the influence of factors such as discontinuity level in undertaking NPD projects with respect to how it affects the execution of industrial design and marketing activities.     

Government support of clean technology research in West Germany: some evidence

The authors have set out to review the procedures used in the allocation of public money by the Federal German government for research into 'clean' technologies. Public sponsorship of this kind of research is necessary as industrial firms rarely see enough return for their R&D investment to warrant their carrying it out. The authors have surveyed the methods used by the government funding agency (BMFT) to identify projects and to allocate money to them. 82 projects were included in the survey in the fields of low-emission processes.
Projects were segmented in five ways: Status of the receiver; Type of technology; R&D stage (from basic through demonstration plant); Cooperative versus non-cooperative, Environmental medium. Their broad conclusions are that (a) most of the funds went to projects for the development of 'end-of-the-pipe-cum-recycling' technologies and integrated technologies, (b) where there was cooperation between a firm and a university the R&D concentrated on studying basic principles, and (c) success depends on the existence of a clear strategy for the research as a whole rather than on ad hoc monitoring against a narrowly conceived plan. The authors also summarise the problems met in ensuring that money allocated in this way is effectively used.     

Realities of R&D as a business: MBI's experience

The level of effort in a R&D activity on research or development depends upon whether the R&D activity is basic or applied. In general, the R&D at a university is focused more on the research (R of R&D) whereas the emphasis in an industrial R&D is more on the development (D of R&D) and less on research. In the past, this created a gap difficult to bridge between the R&D needs of an industrial sector and the R&D output from university and governmental laboratories. The recent success in R&D as a business has mainly been due to understanding the critical steps needed to take an idea to a marketplace and, thus, the emphasis on R or D has become a moving target depending upon the need. MBI International, a non‐profit R&D organization, was created to bridge the gap between academic and industrial R&D and to validate, develop and demonstrate technologies having commercial potential in the industrial sector. In the process, MBI developed partnerships with universities, governmental agencies, foundations, and industries to resource innovative technologies, funds, physical facilities and market opportunities to make the R&D business a reality. In this paper, we present MBI's experience in developing and commercializing R&D technologies in several new spin‐off companies, joint ventures, and out‐licensing.     

When Research Meets Development: Antecedents and Implications of Transfer Speed

This paper focuses on the organization of new product development in large, R&D‐intensive firms. In these firms, research and development activities are often separated. Research is conducted in dedicated research projects at specialized research labs. Once research results are achieved by research projects, they are transferred to business units for further development and commercialization. We investigate the speed whereby research projects transfer their first research results to business units (hereafter: transfer speed). In particular, we analyze the antecedents and performance implications of transfer speed. Based on data of 503 research projects from a European R&D intensive manufacturing firm, our results suggest that a fast transfer speed (as measured by the time it takes for a research project to develop and transfer its first research result to business units) is associated with a better research performance (as measured by the total number of transfers the research project generates). Moreover, we find that different types of external R&D partners—science‐based and market‐based partners—play distinct roles in speeding up project first research transfers. While market‐based partnerships (i.e., customers and suppliers) generally contribute to a faster transfer of first research results, science‐based partnerships (i.e., universities and research institutions) only speed up first research transfers of technologically very complex projects. Our results also show that early patent filings by research projects accelerate first research transfers.     

Is R&D risky?

Research summary : Many studies use research and development (R&D) intensity or R&D spending as a proxy for risk taking, but we have little evidence that either associates positively with firm risk. We analyze the relations between R&D intensity (R&D spending to sales) and R&D spending on the one hand and 11 different indicators of firm risk on the other, using data from 1,907 to 3,908 firms in various industries over 13 years. The analysis finds a general lack of consistent positive association between R&D and firm risk, making the use of R&D as an indicator of risk taking questionable. Furthermore, R&D intensity and spending do not correlate positively, suggesting they measure different constructs. We discuss potential reasons for these nonsignificant results. Our study demonstrates that researchers should avoid casual use of R&D as a proxy for risk taking without explicitly providing a clear definition and measurement model for risk. Managerial summary : Risk is a key construct in strategic management research. Many studies in this area measure risk taking by research and development (R&D) intensity (the ratio of R&D spending to sales) or R&D spending. However, since R&D intensity and spending have also been used to measure various other things such as information processing demands, this raises the question of whether R&D intensity and spending are valid indicators of firm risk. We examine this issue by considering the associations of R&D intensity and R&D spending with conventional measures of firm risk. We find a general lack of consistent positive association between R&D and firm risk, making the use of R&D as an indicator of risk taking questionable. Furthermore, R&D intensity and spending do not correlate positively, suggesting they measure different things. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scale and performance in publicly funded collaborative research and development

This paper reports the results of an extensive empirical investigation on the role of project scale (reflected in consortium size and in project budget) on various performance dimensions of publicly funded collaborative research and development (R&D) projects. Recent trends in European research policy are founded on the premise that such scale economies do exist, hence the emphasis placed on the critical mass of R&D projects. We argue that large scale in collaborative R&D confers both positive and negative effects, and thus we hypothesize an inverse U‐shaped relation between scale and performance. We only find an inverse U‐shaped effect of consortium size on networking impacts and a U‐shaped effect of project budget on goal achievement. No other statistically significant relationships were found for the remaining performance dimensions (i.e. scientific outputs, technological outputs, and research capacity impacts). More generally, and consistent with recent work on the relation between quality and quantity in academic research, our analyses offer little evidence to support the idea that increasing scale generally improves collaborative R&D performance. It appears that the simple assumption ‘bigger is better’ in European Union‐financed collaborative R&D may need to be reconsidered.     

The contribution of Design Thinking to the R of R&D in technological innovation

Literature on Design Thinking has mainly focused on whether its key principles enhance performance in the development phase (the D of R&D) of the technological innovation process. However, it has dedicated scant attention to the earlier research phase (the R of R&D). This aspect is surprising, given that many innovations fail as a result of early research actions and decisions. This article examines how it is possible and desirable to apply Design Thinking to the research phase of the technological innovation process. How can Design Thinking support innovation, even when advanced breakthrough technologies are at stake, the market is distant, and product applications and specific user needs have not been identified yet? To respond to this question, we investigate the research work of the design center of a global electronics company that uses a design approach called Proxemics to envision future interactions between bodies (people), objects (technology), and spaces (context). Although Proxemics is consistent with and implements the human centeredness and experimentation principles of Design Thinking, results of this study show that its logics and tools are different from those used in Design Thinking in the D of R&D due to the more abstract nature of the tasks in the R of R&D.     

Project selection by scoring for a large R&D organisation in a developing country

A project selection method has been derived for the R&D Division of an electrical equipment manufacturer in a developing country. In the method, a scoring model is used to select and rank projects which have a wide range of objectives and characteristics. The criteria used for selection relate specifically to the organisation's needs and culture, and they are weighted according to their relative importance as perceived by executives. The results of the study indicate the research culture of the R&D Division and reflect its environment. As such the paper illustrates a methodology which can be universally applied to large R&D organisations in developing or developed countries.     

Clustering and the R&D management of high-technology small firms: in theory and practice

Much of the policy assistance for high-technology small firms (HTSFs) over recent years has been directed at encouraging their research and development (R&D) collaboration through local networking and technology transfer. Following a consideration of why HTSFs are formed, and how they perform R&D in order to cope with the competitive environment, this paper explores the value of external collaborative R&D to internal R&D management, inside geographically concentrated incubators, science parks or clusters. It is concluded that, although R&D collaboration with external partners occurs in limited instances, much HTSF R&D is highly confidential, competitive and wholly internalised. This tendency, as far as it relates to R&D management, is significant in that it minimises the likelihood that local management collaboration between co-located firms will improve the performance of R&D projects.     

Development and application of a new methodology of evaluating industrial R&D projects

This paper proposes a new methodology of evaluating industrial R&D projects to assess the effectiveness of future R&D in terms of financial credibility, to prioritize them efficiently by clear criteria to reduce the time and burden consumed by both project leaders and management staffs. A new methodology has been developed and applied to all Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) R&D projects, and is recognized as a useful system for evaluating many R&D projects in a short period, such as 150 projects per month.     

R&D management through network mapping: using the Internet to identify strategic network actors in cooperative research networks

Most R&D management techniques to date have emphasized the immediate organizational context or the internal structure and process of the R&D project. Recently however attempts have been made at situating R&D management in a wider context of inter‐organizational R&D activities. This paper presents the technique of R&D network mapping as a means of providing strategic intelligence to the R&D manager. The paper backgrounds this technique with a discussion of the general issue and significance of R&D networks. A methodology for R&D network mapping is then exemplified by outlining how a network database of cooperating projects and institutes in the telecom research sector was built by utilizing the World Wide Web. Finally a number of suggestions are made as to how and when network mapping should be applied in strategic R&D management.     

A longitudinal study of the individual characteristics of effective R&D project team leaders

One hundred and eighteen project team leaders from five industrial research and development (R&D) organizations were studied to determine the individual characteristics that longitudinally predict leader effectiveness. Hypotheses generated from an interactionist framework and the theory of purposeful work behavior (Barrick et al., 2013 ) found an innovative orientation and job involvement to each predict 1-year later and 5-years later job performance ratings by immediate supervisors. Low need for clarity predicted 1-year later performance ratings. Self-esteem and job involvement each predicted 5-years later profitability of the project, and job involvement predicted project speed to market. As hypothesized, type of R&D work was found to be a moderator whereby an innovative orientation predicted 1-year and 5-years later job performance primarily for research projects, and a low need for clarity predicted 1-year later performance mainly for research projects. Implications for models of interactionism and leader effectiveness in R&D are discussed.     

An empirical analysis of the determinants of technology roadmap utilization

For many years now, firms have managed their research and development (R&D) by applying various approaches drawn from the discipline of technology roadmapping (TRM). The underlying rationale of these roadmapping approaches is to align firms' product and technology developments with their business goals. By visually representing firms' technology strategy, roadmaps support intra‐firm communication and facilitate the coordination of strategic decisions and activities within the technology management domain. Most previously published research on TRMs has focused on the design and implementation of roadmapping processes; that is, relatively few empirical or quantitative studies describe the use and evaluation of roadmapping techniques. This paper seeks to address this gap by conducting a survey of 186 different R&D units within stock market‐listed companies in Korea that have implemented TRM. The paper attempts to identify the antecedent factors behind firms' successful use of roadmaps, further identifying correlations between these antecedent factors through an analysis of the R&D units. It also empirically highlights these antecedent factors by empirically analyzing and verifying correlations between roadmap utilization and R&D performance.     

The organizational impact on R&D: Computer aids for the disabled

R&D often reflects social concerns which are represented in the organization and implementation of scientific inquiry. An analysis of R&D projects for the disabled provides a glimpse into the link between such social concerns and its consequent organizational basis.
A content analysis of 89 R&D computer-related projects between 1979 and 1983, focussing on R&D, interest areas, funding sources, research emphasis, institutional setting and prototype production, illustrates the organizational influence involved in this type of specialized R&D.
Specifically, a model is created, arguing that public funding mechanisms influence the type and direction that research takes, while factors in the form of institutional division of resources and specialization, lead to specific research concentrations. These findings add support to the argument that the organization of R&D of computer aids is influenced by societal priorities which, through a series of constraints, affects its output.     

Principal researcher and project manager: who should drive R&D projects?

In this paper, it is analyzed the hypothesis that in R&D the principal researcher (PR) is accepted as the coordinator or project manager (PM), carrying out the search for financing and to manage contracts, resources, cost, time, scope, risk and uncertainty, communication, stakeholders and so on, in addition to internal research activities. Thus, this study tries to verify this hypothesis through a major literature review in different types of projects developed by university, but also with a look to industry and industry-university cooperation. Two case studies are also analyzed, centered in its R&D project management maturity level. It is concluded that there is an important issue in projects’ success and in the time spent by PR in management, work for which they are under trained; while at the industry there is a greater approach to project management by the proximity of the innovation projects to other industrial projects. Following these initial findings and according to the case study results, it is proposed that R&D Projects in universities would be separated into two synergistic knowledge areas: R&D Management and Project Management. It is also recommended to allocate them to two distinct roles, where they could add value to R&D through their better knowledge and skills.     

The Role of Departmental Thought Worlds in Shaping Escalation of Commitment in New Product Development Projects

The debate over whether and how thought worlds of different departments (especially marketing and research and development [R&D]) affect managers' decision-making behavior in new product development (NPD) is ongoing. A key challenge of these decisions is to deal with deteriorating NPD projects, which are often subject to escalation of commitment (EoC), with many firms wasting billions of dollars by throwing good money after bad NPD projects. However, understanding departmental thought worlds and their role for EoC in NPD could help firms stop this profusion. Thus, this research provides answers to the question of how thought worlds affect managers' tendency toward EoC in NPD decision-making—both in general and under certain project characteristics. To do so, we conducted four studies based on real-life scenarios with 460 highly experienced NPD managers from marketing and R&D, thus ensuring high validity and reliability. Our research is the first to explore the impact of thought worlds on EoC, thereby detecting that the importance of managers' thought worlds for shaping EoC varies with the NPD project's characteristics. Thus, depending on the specific project situation, different types of managers may be more or less capable of making proper NPD decisions. Moreover, results show that belief updating serves as a respective key mediator. Doing so enriches the theory by showing that managers' thought worlds can substantially influence a major mechanism (i.e., belief updating) of coping with cognitive dissonance. Finally, post hoc tests reveal departmental differences in EoC behavior between marketing and R&D that vary with a project's characteristics. These results imply that firms need to carefully consider who is in charge of making decisions on NPD project continuance in different project situations.     

A basic model for evaluating R&D performance: theory and application in Italy

Nowadays the public R&D laboratories have a fundamental role in countries' development, supporting businesses as they face the technological challenges in the turbulent world scenarios. Measuring the performance of R&D organisations is crucially important to decisions about the level and direction of public funding for research and development. This research considers the public laboratories like systems and develops a mathematical model based on the measurement of R&D activities with k‐indices. The score obtained from the research laboratories evaluation (relev) methodology synthesises in single value financial, scientific and technological aspects. It is an indicator, for R&D manager and policy maker, of performance in relation to other research organisations or in a time series. The method is an instrument of strategic planning and can be used for the improvement of individual activities and the overall performance of public R&D bodies.