Emerging challenges for R&D executives — an American perspective

In recent years, many companies have witnessed dramatic changes in their business environment. Emergence of global markets and competitors coupled with new competitive strategies based on quality, speed and/or alliances have forced business managers — especially in the United States — to adopt new management strategies, structures and systems. These in turn have caused many R&D executives to progress from their traditional agenda of managing R&D activities in domestic laboratories to a new agenda of coordinating and integrating technology development and exploitation on a world-wide basis. This paper discusses this evolution of R&D management agenda in the United States and its implications. It also reviews the approaches being used and the experiences being gained by the American R&D management community to address the emerging challenges.