Critical success factors of Six Sigma implementations in Italian companies

The present paper discusses the results of a research project going on at Politecnico di Milano, aiming at analysing the idiosyncrasies of Six Sigma implementations in Italian companies. In particular, the project addresses the following research questions, regarding the approach of Italian companies towards Six Sigma: are Italian companies implementing Six Sigma exactly as it was originally conceived at Motorola or, rather, is there an Italian way to Six Sigma? do Italian companies which implemented Six Sigma recognize the same set of critical success factors singled out in the international literature?Bibliographic analysis showed a lack of literature concerning Six Sigma implementation in Italian companies. The research was then based on the study of real life application of Six Sigma in an Italian company and on discussion through a set of workshops organized at Politecnico di Milano with Six Sigma experts. In particular, we will concentrate on a set of case studies and on one workshop specifically addressing the second research question.The insights coming from the analysed case studies and discusses with industry experts - if further explored, validated and reorganized - could constitute a Road Map for Six Sigma implementation in Italian companies; the validation and re-organization process is still on-going and its completion could constitute a further research objective.     

Foreign entry and firm R&D: evidence from Chinese manufacturing industries

By making use of firm‐level panel data from 2005 to 2007, this paper empirically examines the relationship between research and development (R&D) behaviour and the presence of foreign firms in China's four major manufacturing industries. The manufacturing industries considered are (1) car manufacturing, (2) household electrical appliances, (3) electronics and (4) communication equipment manufacturing. We find that the presence of foreign firms has resulted in a significant increase in R&D intensity of all four manufacturing industries in China. While the average R&D intensity in communication equipment manufacturing is the highest, the electronics industry, which has the highest level of foreign presence, has experienced a relatively large increase in R&D intensity. This suggests that China's electronics manufacturing sector is responding to rising competition from foreign firms located in China. Foreign presence in China's car manufacturing sector is relatively small, and this industry has experienced a relatively small increase in R&D intensity because of foreign presence.     

Patterns of international R&D cooperation for new product development: the Olivetti multimedia product

Abstract
The aim of the paper is to identify a number of different patterns of international R&D cooperation during the initial phases of the product development process. This is a case-study of new product development based on the work of the Olivetti Multimedia Laboratory in Pisa, how it set up its own pattern of multinational collaboration in the idea generation and pre-competitive phase; how, in turn, this collaboration led to new R&D collaboration agreements to satisfy specific problem-solving requirements connected with the confirmation of a dominant design, though limited to a certain extent by previous agreements between Olivetti and other firms; the role played by marketing in the choice of alternative solutions. Finally, in the product implementation phase, the emergence of a defined technological paradigm leads to a highly competitive environment, where R&D collaboration is increasingly directed towards multifunctional requirements (R&D, manufacturing, marketing) within a strategic network of alliances that involves large sized companies, start-up firms, industrial and university research units.     

Factors affecting the management of interdisciplinary research in the pharmaceutical industry

The author uses the results of recent published behavioural research on team effectiveness as a framework to analyse the problems of managing R&D in pharmaceutical development. The research points to a large number of factors as having a potential impact on managing such R&D which is inescapably multi- or inter-disciplinary in nature. Some such factors may originate outside the team, some within. External factors include organizational climate, R&D decision-making environment, system maturity and organizational form (type of matrix); internal factors include span of responsibility of team members, disciplinary differentiation, task uncertainty, extent of fulfilment of Belbin roles and a significant requirement for flexibility of style on the part of the manager.
The author's conclusion is that achieving effective management of R&D teams in the pharmaceutical R&D environment requires attention to all these factors. The extent to which integration of different disciplines is achieved is symptomatic of the degree to which these factors are understood and attended to.     

Reasons for corporate research and development spin‐outs – the chemical and pharmaceutical industry as example

The spin‐out of research and development (R&D) activities from established companies has increased during recent years. The reasons for realising corporate spin‐outs, especially regarding the involvement of financial investors, were investigated based on 30 European case studies within the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. The reasons can be categorised into two groups: an investment and a divestment rationale. Whereas the chemical industry uses both rationales, there are only divestment cases in the pharmaceutical industry. The investment cases within the chemical industry show that R&D spin‐outs can make an important contribution towards the flexibilisation and performance improvement of a company's internal R&D. The divestment cases show that R&D spin‐outs can be a suitable possibility to continue promising R&D activities. The survival rate of the analysed spin‐outs is high and numerous new jobs have been created in the past years, especially in pharmaceutical spin‐outs.     

Linking learning and knowledge creation to project success in Six Sigma projects: An empirical investigation

This study investigates the impact of two organizational antecedents, (1) Six Sigma resources (technical) and (2) team psychological safety (social), on learning behaviour and knowledge creation and, in turn, on the success of Six Sigma process improvement projects. The paper proposes an integrated model to explain process improvement implementation success through two learning activities undertaken by Six Sigma project teams: Knowing-what and Knowing-how. The conceptualization of these knowledge types in this research is different from usual conceptualization as it represents the knowledge brought into projects through various phases of Six Sigma projects. The three hypotheses proposed in the model were tested using the data collected from 52 Six Sigma project teams from a single organization. Regression analysis showed psychological safety affects project performance through knowing-how. Regression and bootstrapping analyses showed resources influence project performance through the combined mediation of knowing-what and knowing-how.The paper provides an interdisciplinary treatment of knowledge management in process improvement teams, and offers a research model demonstrating how Six Sigma project teams promote deliberate organizational learning. By doing so, this study empirically establishes the notion that technical and social supports jointly impact the success of operations management initiatives such as Six Sigma through learning. The limitations of the study along with the future research directions are highlighted.     

Does international research and development increase patent output? An analysis of Japanese pharmaceutical firms

Internationalizing research and development is often advocated as a strategy for fostering the development of technological capabilities. Although firms conduct international R&D to tap into knowledge bases that reside in foreign countries, we argue that in order to benefit from international R&D investments firms must already possess research capabilities in underlying or complementary technologies. We examine the international R&D expansion activities, research capabilities, and patent output of 65 Japanese pharmaceutical firms from 1980 to 1991. We find that firms benefit from international R&D only when they possess existing research capabilities in the underlying technologies. In addition to refining our understanding of when international R&D enhances firm innovation, our results integrate asset‐seeking and asset‐based theories of foreign direct investment. Internationalizing R&D to tap into foreign knowledge bases is consistent with asset‐seeking theories of foreign direct investment, while the contingent nature by which firms benefit from international R&D is consistent with asset‐based theories of foreign direct investment and the notion of absorptive capacity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The growth and management of R&D outsourcing: evidence from UK pharmaceuticals

Outsourcing of research and development (R&D) activities has become a major management issue for R&D and technical managers within firms. It has also been of growing concern to academics who are trying to chart the implications of the increasingly distributed nature of research and innovative activities in advanced economies. This study is based on a survey of research-based pharmaceutical companies operating in the United Kingdom conducted in 2004–2006. The aim of this paper is to outline the main reasons for pharmaceutical firms to outsource R&D and the management practices followed by such companies in relation to outsourcing. The research results provide interesting findings in relation to, for example, the reasons behind outsourcing, the decision-making processes behind such practices and barriers to outsourcing arrangements. These issues are evaluated together with the characteristics of the firms and the specific project outsourced.     

The Difficult Path to Lean Product Development

Lean product development holds the promise of dramatically improving a company's competitive position. Its implementation offers the potential for faster product development with fewer engineering hours, improved manufacturability of products, higher quality products, fewer production start-up problems, and faster time to market. Of course, all of this improves the likelihood of market success. As Christer Karlsson and Pär Åhlström point out, however, a company attempting to implement lean product development must overcome numerous obstacles. By spending more than 2 years observing and facilitating one company's efforts to make this transition, they were able to identify various factors that either hinder or support the implementation of lean product development. Lean product development comprises numerous interrelated techniques, including supplier involvement, cross-functional teams, concurrent engineering, integration (as opposed to coordination) of various functional aspects of each project, the use of a heavyweight team structure, and strategic management of each development project. However, a company does not achieve lean product development simply by implementing some of these techniques. A successful move toward lean product development requires approaching these interrelated techniques as elements of a coherent whole. As observed in the subject company, several factors can hinder attempts to achieve lean product development. For example, managerial overemphasis on R&D in development projects hampers efforts to achieve cross-functional integration. In other words, creating a team with members from various functions is easier than achieving a cross-functional focus throughout an organization. Similarly, a cross-functional team cannot perform effectively if a sequential view of the development process persists. Factors that support the transition to lean product development include: tight development schedules, which contribute to a must-do attitude; close cooperation with a qualified customer, who can provide vital information as well as challenge the development team; highly competent engineers; and, most important, the active, ongoing support and participation of top management. Most participants in the process examined in this study seemed interested in the possibilities of lean product development, which suggests that motivation to change may not pose a significant problem in similar efforts.     

Business R&;D and the Interplay of R&;D Subsidies and Product Market Uncertainty

This paper examines the effect of product market uncertainty and government research and development (R&D) subsidies on firm-level R&D investment. Using a sample of German manufacturing firms, we find that product market uncertainty reduces R&D investment and government R&D subsidies increase R&D investment. Moreover, our results indicate that R&D subsidies mitigate the effect of product market uncertainty on R&D investment. These findings suggest that public policies aimed at increasing business R&D investment can achieve this objective by reducing the degree of uncertainty in the product market.      

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.     

International R&D partnerships and intrafirm R&D–marketing–production integration of manufacturing firms in emerging economies

Although cross-functional integration is important for research and development (R&D), research about implications of cross-functional integration has been rather sparse. In new product development (NPD), no study to date has examined intrafirm as well as interfirm integration of key functions such as intrafirm R&D–marketing–production together with interfirm integration of host R&D–partner R&D. Such marketing and operations interface contributes to a better understanding of how operational and marketing activities impact on competitiveness and firm performance. This study collected data from 202 electronics manufacturing firms operating in an emerging economy, mainland China and Hong Kong with international R&D partnerships. The findings indicate that a high level of R&D integration between firms improved NPD performance when cross-functional integration is based on existing rather than new product configurations and key technologies. Interestingly, in high distance situations, cross-functional integration in the production validation stage generated NPD success. The findings show that high environmental uncertainties lead to a high level of host and partner firms R&D integration. However, product newness has no significant effects on R&D integration in any of the NPD stages.     

Decision Analysis and Strategic Management of Research and Development: A comparison between applications in electronics and ethical pharmaceuticals

The process of strategic management of research and development is contrasted through the application of decision analysis in the evaluation of R&D projects—one in an electronics company, and one in a pharmaceutical company.
Issues considered include the different character of applied R&D in each industry resulting from, for example, the shorter product lifecycles that apply to the electronics industry compared to the much longer lifecycles in the pharmaceutical industry. The difference of time horizon between the two industries suggests that different decision criteria might be adopted in project evaluation. Decision-makers in both industries express a need for flexible decision and performance criteria in relation to strategy dialogue about alternative project-options.
Implementation problems encountered include: long term discounting, the nature of the preference function for long-term cash flow streams, issues in making assessments of uncertainty in relation to long-term future time horizons, and the management of research portfolios.     

The effects of funding source and management ownership on the productivity of R&D

This study investigates the influence of the source of R&D funds and management ownership on R&D productivity. The lagged effect of the source of R&D funds on R&D output is investigated for a sample of US manufacturing firms in five industries over the 1996–99 period. Estimates based on 779 firm-years show that R&D productivity increases with the proportion of stock held by managers and directors of firms primarily in the Other Electronics industry. The estimates also show that recipients of government-sponsored R&D funds in the Chemicals industry have lower levels of output (sales) for each dollar committed to R&D. In addition, output for firms in the Chemicals industry worsens as management stockholding increases, implying an agency cost rationale for the observed difference in output. The implication is that firms with high manager-owner content are less productive with government-sponsored R&D than with company-financed R&D. The reported results suggest that potential agency costs should be incorporated in government-sponsored R&D contracts. It also suggests that the source of R&D funds should be disclosed and incorporated into the valuation of intangible assets attributable to research and development.     

Pursuing opportunities in distance: the determinants of overseas R&D by Chinese multinationals

This study investigates two relevant dimensions of institutional distance – knowledge and economic distance – that influence the overseas research and development (R&D) intensity of emerging market multinational enterprises. We undertake a longitudinal analysis of 121 listed Chinese manufacturing multinational enterprises for the period 2011–2016. The results reveal that the enterprises' overseas R&D is more intense in host countries with greater knowledge and economic distance. Moreover, as the strength of intellectual property rights protection in host countries grows, the positive effects of knowledge and economic distance on the enterprises' overseas R&D intensity become weaker. We also find that political ties with home country governments strengthen the positive relationship between knowledge distance and the enterprises' overseas R&D intensity, while its moderating effect on the relationship between economic distance and overseas R&D intensity is insignificant.     

R&D in China: an empirical study of Taiwanese IT companies

This study extends the research on R&D (research and development) internationalization to a new environmental context (two Asian newly-industrialized economies, mainland China and Taiwan). Based on a survey of 56 major Taiwanese information technology (IT) companies, the status of R&D internationalization with Taiwan as the home and mainland China as the host is investigated. Human-capital-augmentation is found to be the key motive for Taiwanese IT companies to extend R&D activities to the mainland. Accessing capable yet cost effective local engineers with an additional benefit of geographical and linguistic proximity is the major context of this motive. The location decision is based on three considerations – access to engineers, proximity to manufacturing site, and competition avoidance. Finally, three operational patterns of conducting the international design and development (D&D) activities are categorized, which are 'home-base-integration', 'host-base-integration', and 'product life cycle'.     

Measuring firms’ imitation activity

Although imitation is more abundant and prevalent than innovation in firms’ product and process development activities, it has been understudied in research on innovation and R&D management. For example, a valid and reliable objective firm-level measure of the intensity of imitation activity is lacking in the extant literature. This measure is necessary to understand the antecedents and consequences of firms’ imitation activity, which has implications for R&D management. In this paper, we present novel methods that employ patent infringement litigations data to improve on the validity and reliability of measuring firms’ imitation activity. We validate our proposed measure by presenting a first model and test of R&D as a multiple-output production function with R&D expenditure as the primary input, and innovation and imitation as joint outputs. This is in contrast to current R&D models as a single-output production function of either innovation or imitation. This study uses a sample of 227 public firms from the computer, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical industries in the United States during 1991–2010.     

Using IT Effectively in R&D Management23—25 September 1996, IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland

The commercialization of biotechnology requires very serious and intense research capabilities. The pharmaceutical industry has been one of the early exploiters of biotechnology because of the existence of such capabilities. This feature has been observed worldover and the literature is replete with information on how firms have evolved various strategies to meet this requirement. The present paper is an attempt to assess the R&D capabilities in the pharmaceutical companies in India in the context of biotechnology commercialization. A study was made of the R&D capabilities of 33 companies. These companies represent 3 categories of the Indian industry: purely medicinal chemistry based pharmaceuticals; diversified (both medicinal chemistry and biotechnology); dedicated biotechnology companies. Discriminant analysis was performed (i) to understand the distinctiveness of the three groups of companies and (ii) to understand the characteristics of their R&D capabilities. With respect to eight of the ten chosen parameters like R&D intensity, skill intensity, linkages, output of R&D, size, age, R&D manpower as a proportion of total manpower and number of skilled R&D employees, the three groups are observed to be distinct from each other.     

Integration of Finance with Marketing and R&D in New Product Development: The Role of Project Stage

While the interfaces of marketing, research and development (R&D), and manufacturing in product development have been extensively studied, no large‐scale empirical study has focused on finance's role in the product development team. The present research investigates the role of finance in cross‐functional product development teams, thereby extending existing research on cross‐functional integration in product development. A set of hypotheses is tested with a survey of 389 project team leaders and top management team members from companies in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and Austria. The findings suggest that the integration of finance in cross‐functional teams positively impacts project performance and that the importance of the finance interface depends on the project development stage and the innovativeness of the product developed. The results indicate that the R&D–finance interface is most critical at the early stage of a project, while the marketing–finance interface is most important at the late stage, and that the integration between R&D and finance is especially useful in the development of less innovative products.     

Institutional means-ends decoupling work in industrial R&D project implementation

Managing goals is a key network management function and is critical in the implementation of industrial R&D projects. In this paper, we explore the implementation of an industrial R&D project, focusing in particular upon the role of means-ends decoupling work to understand how the goals are managed. We combine several data sources in our case research to explore project implementation through an understanding of means-ends decoupling work. We collected in-depth interviews, archival records and field observations within the R&D research setting of an industrial R&D project in the period of 2015 to 2017. Our findings identify three types of means-ends decoupling work in R&D project implementation: ‘work on’ causal complexity, ‘work at’ behavioural invisibility, and ‘work with’ practice multiplicity. In addition, we uncover six dynamic micro-mechanisms that collectively influence the making and nature of means-ends decoupling work and therefore serve to allow for the fluid switching of work as the institutional conditions permit. Overall, our findings have significant implications for understanding means-ends decoupling as a highly skilled network competence for managing R&D project implementation goals.