Project selection in Post Office telecommunications R&D

In an industry in which the benefits of R & D are often difficult to quantify, numerate processes for the selection of projects and portfolios are of limited usefulness. The processes that are used provide formal means, necessary in a large organization, to enable managerial judgment at an appropriate level to be applied to both project selection and the balance of the portfolios.     

Global R&D management

Abstract
Global R&D management, the management of company R&D effort distributed over different countries, a task that concerns multinational firms, has not been widely studied. The authors have therefore carried out in-depth studies of global R&D conducted by 7 European and 15 Japanese companies. Their objective was to identify 'best practice' and so construct a framework for future research.
The authors' conclusions are as follows. Globalisation, that is decentralisation of R&D, has become a necessity for multinationals as a result of the localisation of competition, of product life becoming shorter than development time, and the need to locate laboratories near sources of new technological know-how.
Because foreign acquisitions often lead to the acquisition of laboratories, questions are raised about how best to integrate them with the administrative practices of the 'home' organization, whether to reorganize them or to close them down. When it is necessary to set up a new foreign-based laboratory deciding its exact location will require the weighing of factors such as whether the activities are to be market or process oriented, where on the R to D scale the activities will be placed, and how far direction of the laboratory's programmes and work will be decentralised.
Global management also demands special attention to the building of an open communication network among the laboratories, the best form of which has yet to be determined. The main concern in human resource management will be how to select and develop an internationally oriented management corps and how to train R&D professionals to communicate across sites.
If globally dispersed R&D laboratories are to be most effectively used then a new framework for their management needs to be developed.     

Evolving headquarters‐subsidiary dynamics in international R&D: the case of Japanese multinationals

The paper identifies the evolving nature of headquarters‐subsidiary relations during the whole process of R&D internationalization. In‐depth data on five Japanese multinationals revealed that the role of overseas laboratories actually evolved over time, from the 'starter' to the 'innovator' and then to the 'contributor'. Such a shift in role of overseas laboratories affected the nature of headquarters‐subsidiary relationship accordingly. 'Semi‐connected freedom' was identified as an optimal condition for the overseas laboratories to reconcile the two competing pressures: need for local autonomy and need for internal information connectivity. Various managerial steps were suggested for the laboratories to reach that state: increase in process linkage, active broker's role, short‐term socialization, and project‐level socialization. Some practical and theoretical implications were drawn from this research, and future research direction was suggested.     

Technology analysis and R&D management

Technology analysis is a new field of knowledge aimed at creating a fuller understanding of the technological setting within which business operates. It provides a macro-discipline and is specifically aimed at improving the effectiveness of management of technology. As such it is of direct relevance to R&D management.
The essential tools of technology analysis constitute a set of analytical frameworks covering aspects such as: (i) a common approach to describing individual technological artefacts, (ii) a taxonomy of technologies, (iii) a classification of technological trends, (iv) a chart of technological limits, and (v) a socio-technical preference profile.
These frameworks help the R&D manager to dissect and debate typical R&D management problems such as: (i) selecting R&D projects, (ii) setting broad R&D objectives in the case of a given project and (iii) setting specific R&D goals to meet the said objectives. The frameworks also help the R&D manager to portray and present research achievements within a simple and intuitively appealing framework.     

A model of value assessment in collaborative R&D programs

This study examines the tasks, processes, and frameworks central to performance assessment in collaborative research organizations. The domain of the study is the partnered learning approach to research and development (R&D) management. The empirical results highlight relationships between context (center scale) and performance (value perceived by industry sponsors) in such R&D collaborations. Insights from this research are broadly applicable to the maintenance of alliances among firms involved in collaborative R&D and are generalizable to that context. Data gathered from a national population of 58 National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored centers over a 3-year period reveal significant evolutionary patterns in the development of collaborative relationships. Successful industry university consortia leverage four core process relationships: (1) the creation of research capacity yielding advances in process and product knowledge; (2) technology transfer behaviors within the participants' organizations; (3) participant satisfaction with the outcomes; and (4) the continuity of industry sponsor support, i.e., commitment to the collaboration.     

Peer assessment in industrial R&D departments

The paper reviews the current state of knowledge on peer assessment of performance with special reference to industrial R&D organisations. The authors define the term "peer" and discuss briefly various techniques for assessment (nomination, ranking and rating). The authors review the literature of peer review to show that it can add to the value of assessment and that certain obvious objections to peer rating apply also to supervisory review. Their conclusion is that peer review is a useful adjunct to appraisal, but only if it is completely acceptable to all involved. The conditions for achieving this acceptance are discussed. The paper concludes by showing how peer rating can be used for team development.     

Top management roles in R&D projects

The work described in the paper is aimed at a better understanding of decision processes in ‘directed’ R&D. Specifically it focusses on the questions: What aspects of innovation does top management influence significantly?, and What are the effects of this influence? The kinds of influences looked at include technological, financial. marketing, timeliness and personnel factors as well as company characteristics. The overall hypothesis was that top management would be interested not only in ultimate objectives but also in intermediate objectives of shorter timespan. The research material consisted of answers to a 29-item questionnaire given by 107 management-level respondents in 13 sites. The questionnaires related to data on 154 projects including the degree of success data achieved. The results were analyzed to bring out main-effect factors on success and intercorrelations between factors. Overall the results supported the initial hypothesis that top management is concerned with shorter-term R&D matters as well as with the effects of R&D on long-term strategy. The influence appears to be more marked during early some stages the of factors projects than later. Interestingly of correlated with economic success are not correlated with top management support, although support is correlated directly with succes. On the whole, top management intervention appears to be operational rather than primarily strategic. The authors interpret observations as meaning that top management intervenes at irreversible decision points and on matters that affect other functions of the company but keeps out of some important issues that are beyond their control.     

In-house R&D management development — strategy and implementation in a major government R&D agency

Abstract
The paper describes the experiences of CSIR in developing an in-house capability and implementation process of R&D management development programmes. The conceptual approach of the laboratory-based R&D management development programmes is described. Different phases in the process of implementation are presented along with the case studies of recent training programmes in two different laboratories. Some of the key aspects of the training programmes —- successful implementation, relationship with policy-making, and improving R&D performance have been examined. The role of international co-operation in R&D management development is suggested. The paper also discusses the future prospects of R&D management development programmes in the country.     

Decision parameters in global R&D management

This paper addresses the question of which variables have what kind of impact on the decision to locate new R&D facilities in countries different from the home country of a corporation. In the first section of the paper we demonstrate the complexity of this question by referring to empirical research, managerial statements and literature. We then develop a conceptual model for the location decision of international R&D activities. This is based on Porter's (1990) framework of the factors constituting the competitive advantage of nations. In the final section of this paper we show how such a model helps us to understand and also to explain a number of management issues related to global R&D activities.     

How R&D is coordinated in Japanese and European multinationals

What are the suitable forms and mechanisms for the coordination of international R&D and innovation processes in multinational corporations? This paper sets out to answer this question by exploratory research and interviews in 18 European and Japanese companies. As a conceptual background, four different categories of coordination mechanisms are generated (‘structural’, ‘hybrid’, ‘informal’ and ‘internal markets’). The empirical results show that Japanese companies make intensive use of personal contacts, informal communication and socialisation whereas European enterprises rely more on internal markets in R&D.     

Open R&D and open innovation: exploring the phenomenon

There is currently a broad awareness of open innovation and its relevance to corporate R&D. The implications and trends that underpin open innovation are actively discussed in terms of strategic, organizational, behavioral, knowledge, legal and business perspectives, and its economic implications. This special issue aims to advance the R&D, innovation, and technology management perspective by building on past and present studies in the field and providing future directions. Recent research, including the papers in this special issue, demonstrates an increasing range of situations where the concept is regarded as applicable. Most research to date has followed the outside-in process of open innovation, while the inside-out process remains less explored. A third coupled process of open innovation is also attracting significant research attention. These different processes show why it is necessary to have a full understanding of how and where open innovation can add value in knowledge-intensive processes. There may be a need for a creative interpretation and adaptation of the value propositions, or business models, in each situation. In other words, there are important implications for new and emerging methods of R&D management.     

Competition and social objectives: The case of West German telecommunications

This article discusses the problems which arise if liberalization in telecommunications has to be brought about under strong equity constraints. It is shown that, under West Germany's political framework, the average consumer exerts a much larger influence on telecommunications policy than in, for example, the USa. Distributional concerns therefore play a major role in German telecommunications policy. A strategy is presented which satisfies these equity constraints. The main elements are: (a) to keep the monopoly on the network level; (b) to allow service competition; but (c) only under a regime of ‘harmonized tarrifs’.     

Groupware and teamwork in R&D: limits to learning and innovation

In recent years the re-engineering of R&D functions in large multinationals has often been accompanied by the emergence of groupware applications as strategic decision-making tools, while the organization of work has shifted towards various forms of teamworking. There is however, little empirical evidence on the conditions and processes through which groupware and teamworking practices can be efficiently linked. This paper examines the experience in groupware adoption by two large multinationals, Hoffmann la Roche and Unilever, in selected areas of new product development: the final New Drug Application phase for a new anti AIDS drug in Roche and the development along an 'innovation funnel' of new oral care products in Unilever. Despite the variety of tasks, organizations, missions and technology deployed, similar themes seem to emerge regarding how large organizations are able to 'host' the new groupware applications. Learning processes seem to play a key role in the final integration of the technology in the workflow. Still, what seems to emerge is that despite its critical role, learning is not a sufficiently valued competence, at least in the organizations examined. As a consequence, the innovations tend to drift, lead to unexpected outcomes and many opportunities for learning from (mistakes and) innovations are simply missed. Factors responsible for such a state of affairs seem to be the power of the hierarchical context into which groupware and teamwork are introduced; the continuous jolts to which such context must undergo because of radical shifts in management and R&D strategy; the dialectics between local and global changes.     

Stakeholder analysis for R&D project management

R&D projects affect the interests of different stakeholders in different ways. Understanding the stakeholders and analysing their interests helps in the better management of R&D projects. In this paper we discuss a methodology to systematically analyse the stakeholders of R&D projects. This methodology includes Freeman's (1984) three levels of analysis: rational, process and transactional. Based on these three levels, the stakeholder management capability of an R&D project is determined. The final stage is based on Mitchell et al . (1997) approach to analysing the dynamics of stakeholders. This methodology is illustrated using a New Zealand case relating to a road pricing R&D project.     

R&D networks and innovation: decentralised product development in multinational enterprises

This paper documents the ways in which overseas R&D in MNEs now plays roles in what are innovative new approaches to innovation itself. Networks of laboratories are seen as supporting both the short-term and long-term competitive evolution of the MNE group's globally-effective product innovation.
In terms of the immediate commercial application of new products for global markets it is argued that product development labs work within creative overseas subsidiaries in MNEs. These aim to derive variants of the new product that fully meet the distinctive needs of each key regional market.
Another separate network of decentralised MNE labs carry out precompetitive (basic or applied) research, embodying particular areas of technological comparative advantage of their host countries. This network of labs therefore provides inputs into a centrally-articulated programme whose objective is to provide the basis of the longer-term technological evolution of the MNE, by upgrading the core knowledge from which future generations of innovative products can emerge.     

Large European manufacturers and the management of R&D

At the end of 1984, for the third consecutive year, a research team from INSEAD administered a survey of the largest manufacturers in Europe. This survey attempts to provide an insight into the technological and manufacturing strategy designed and implemented by these large manufacturers.
Each year since 1982 about 150 companies have completed the questionnaire, and of these 150 replies about one third are repeat answers. The database thus covers about 350 companies. As a consequence this allows us not only to analyse the static picture for a single year, but also to draw a dynamic picture of how thinking about technological and manufacturing strategy is changing within the European Manufacturing Industry.
An analysis of the questionnaire's results allows us to assert some hypotheses about:
a. Changes in the length of the product lifecycle.
b. The importance of process engineering and proprietary process know-how.
c. The interface between manufacturing and research and development as perceived by the manufacturing side.
Since a similar survey is conducted for North America and Japan at the same time, it is possible to posit the European manufacturers vis-à-vis their global competitors for some of these issues.     

Towards networked R&D management: the R&D approach of Sonera Corporation as an example

In this paper the authors delineate the challenges of a dynamic environment to R&D management. The authors build on most recent ideas, such as the dynamic capability view of the firm, as strategic foundation for modern R&D management. Collaboration is emphasized as a meta-capability for innovation. These ideas are merged into a 'Networked R&D Management' approach that emphasizes internal and external collaboration networks as critical for companies operating in a dynamic business environment. The approach is illustrated with ICT industry as an example. The implementation of Networked R&D Management is reflected in the illustrative case discussion of R&D management of Sonera Corporation.