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.