Corporate R&D strategy portfolio in Japanese and Australiantechnology-based firms: an empirical study

This paper presents an empirical study on the strategic structure of corporate R&D in Japanese and Australian technology-based companies. The perceived importance and distribution of basic research, precompetitive strategic research and applied research within a corporate R&D portfolio are examined through a comparative analysis of survey data. The results suggest that Japanese firms tend to place great emphasis on basic and precompetitive strategic research, although applied research still retains its importance. They recognize that basic research is critical to achieve long-term competitive advantages in the marketplace. Australian firms also realize the importance of basic research and the use of portfolio approach in R&D management. However, research work in Australian firms tends to focus on applied research with only a limited involvement in medium- and long-term research. Finally, it is concluded that Japanese firms utilize a portfolio approach to corporate R&D management more systematically than do their Australian counterparts     

Information exchange and governance structures in US and JapaneseR&D consortia: institutional and organizational influences

We examine institutional and organizational influences upon information exchange and governance structures within R&D consortia in the United States and Japan. We hypothesized that national differences in institutional environments would lead to less active governance and information-exchange activities within Japanese R&D consortia relative to their US counterparts. At the consortium level, we expected that internal consortium diversity would increase information exchange and governance requirements, and that structures stabilizing relations between consortium members would reduce information exchange and governance requirements. We tested these hypotheses on 39 US and 54 Japanese multifirm R&D consortia, involving, respectively, 1801 US member organizations and 1647 Japanese member organizations. Controlling for organizational age, size, and strategic focus, we found that internal diversity and interorganizational relations are both associated with information-exchange and governance mechanisms. Our model has much greater explanatory power for the United States than for Japan     

An Analysis of Global R&D Activities of Japanese MNCs in the US From the Knowledge-Based View

We examined 79 Japanese MNCs' R&D subsidiaries in the US from the knowledge-based view. We found: 1) subsidiaries' R&D strategies encouraged some types of knowledge flows, but discouraged other types; 2) autonomous R&D subsidiaries promoted knowledge flows from local environments to the subsidiary; 3) process-oriented incentives promoted technical knowledge flows between a subsidiary and its headquarters; 4) knowledge flows and R&D strategies contributed to a subsidiary's knowledge accumulation; 5) organizational factors such as autonomy and process-oriented incentives contributed more to a subsidiary's overall performance than the subsidiary's R&D strategies did.     

Innovation strategy and the R&D-marketing interface in Japanesefirms: a contingency perspective

This study proposes a contingency model suggesting that a firm's strategic position will affect cross-functional involvement and information sharing between R&D and marketing departments in five major new product development stages, as well as the quality of R&D-marketing relations and organizational structure. To test the model, the authors surveyed 274 R&D managers and 264 marketing managers in 315 Japanese high-technology firms. The results indicate that, contrary to anecdotal suppositions of Japanese firm homogeneity, Japanese firms differ among themselves and among the strategic types in several important ways. The results also suggest that the level of R&D-marketing integration should be contingent on new product development strategy, making uniform promotion of cross-functional team integration questionable. Despite the differences in innovation strategy pursued by aggressive new product developers versus nonaggressive new product developers, all three strategic types rank the stages of innovation in a similar manner     

Why are small R&D organizations more productive?

Many R&D managers believe that small R&D organizations are more productive than large ones, a view that is reflected in the popular management literature of the 1980s. The author examines theoretical arguments for the possible advantages of smallness in R&D organizations, proposes an ideal product development organization using the techniques of control theory to simulate information flows, and compares the ideal model with survey data from five R&D organizations. Although direct contact with customers has been shown to be the best source of information about new product concepts, the majority of the product development engineers and engineering managers responding to a survey reported that they speak with customers either one or twice a year, or not at all. It is concluded that merely making R&D organizations small may prove disappointing unless careful attention is paid to organizational policies affecting communications flows, direct access to customers, opportunistic planning, and financial incentives for good performance     

Critical issues related to international R&D programs

This paper discusses critical management, business and technical issues related to three recent international R&D programs between the United States and Japan. It summarizes case studies on two of these programs, then it extrapolates a third case of a program in progress. A review of these programs revealed that international R&D programs present unique challenges in relation to business mobilization, convincing organizations to accept outside technology, financing, program planning, joint program management, and engineering issues. Approximately 25 subjects were observed as critical issues. This paper discusses and illustrates organizational strategies and practical suggestions for managing these critical issues     

Japanese product-development strategies: A summary and propositionsabout their implementation

The current literature on Japanese product development strategies is reviewed. Several propositions about how Japanese firms might be implementing these strategies differently than US firms are developed. A detailed case study of Mitsubishi's Semiconductor Equipment Department, published material on Japanese and US product development methods and organization structure, a second case study of Yokogawa Electric, and the author's experience as an internal consultant for a larger US manufacturing firm are used to develop these propositions. It is suggested that Japanese firms are implementing these strategies using a unique combination of organic and mechanistic mechanisms. Japanese organizational characteristics, such as open offices, product-oriented organizations, and decentralized decision making, suggest a more organic method of implementation while characteristics such as high levels of formalization, detailed schedules, and elaborate temporal and spatial office structures suggest a more mechanistic method of implementation than are used by US firms     

Organization, autonomy, and success of internationally dispersedR&D facilities

The organization and autonomy of internationally dispersed R&D facilities and their influence on the success of R&D are analyzed from the point of view of their headquarters. It is shown that different organizational structures for internationally dispersed R&D are connected with specific degrees of autonomy. The three classical success factors-timing, performance, and budgeting-for measuring project success can be identified. Although quite a few R&D facilities are left with a high degree of autonomy, these units are not perceived, with respect to these success factors, to be as successful as those facilities with a lower degree of autonomy and a low degree of centralization     

Observations on the measurement of R&D productivity: a casestudy

Recent concerns over national and corporate competitiveness have stimulated a renewed interest in the measurement of R&D productivity. However, the complexity of measurement problems in R&D organizations has resulted in a situation where there is a scarcity of generally accepted techniques. The authors review the major measurement issues connected with R&D productivity and presents the results of a case study to develop a R&D productivity measurement system. They describe the process of designing such a system for a high-tech product-development organization, and also provide a reduced list of ten R*D productivity indicators for ongoing monitoring purposes     

Technology development and integration: an empirical study of theinteraction between applied science and product development

The authors report on the results of an empirical study of the development of products based on novel technologies. Their observations are based on field investigations of recent projects performed by all leading mainframe computer producers. All projects focused on the development of advanced technologies for a specific product application, and probed deeply into its science base. The results indicate striking differences in development lead time and R&D productivity between different groups of firms. The authors relate the development performance of the projects to managerial and organizational structures and processes for the integration of new technology     

Organizational turnaround: understanding the role of cutbacks,efficiency improvements, and investment in technology

This paper examines strategies attempted by managers of 204 manufacturing firms which experienced performance decline. Of these, 89 firms turned around, i.e., reversed their performance decline, while 115 firms failed to turnaround and continued to decline in performance over the entire eight-year period of observation. The authors paid particular attention to cutbacks (or retrenchment), improvements in efficiency, and increased investment in technology (specifically, plant and research and development (R&D) expenditure). Results suggest that cutbacks, commonly assumed as essential to organizational turnaround, are adopted by both turnarounds and nonturnarounds. Further, some firms turned around even without resorting to cutbacks, suggesting that the role of cutbacks may need to be reconsidered. Significant differences between turnarounds and nonturnarounds emerged in the ability of managers at turnaround firms to convert cutbacks into efficiency increases. Results also suggest that although efficiency increases were important for turnaround, most turnaround organizations supplemented improved efficiency with increased investment in technology     

Managing the internationalization of R&D activities

The increasing dispersion of R&D laboratories in different countries force multinational firms to take a global view in managing their research operations and to make efforts to coordinate their dispersed R&D. Few studies have so far investigated whether or not international R&D structures exist, and how forms of division of labor, interdependencies, and coordination among geographically dispersed units take place. This paper proposes a taxonomy of international R&D structures and attempts to identify why and how they are designed as they are. It is based on the findings of field research on 12 multinational companies. It shows that the shape of the structure is dependent on the type of R&D activity, namely the longer time horizon of the research activity the more dispersed structure tend to be. Moreover, the structural outcome seems to be strongly influenced by two variables: the degree of dispersion of external sources of knowledge, and the degree of dispersion of the key internal R&D resources. These factors in turn are dependent on both industry- and firm-specific variables. This helps explain why the international R&D structural outcome varies from industry to industry and from firm to firm within the same industry     

Do rewards benefit the organization? the effects of reward typesand the perceptions of diverse R&D professionals

Previous compensation research has focused primarily on individual benefits derived from monetary rewards and has tacitly assumed that diverse organization members hold similar beliefs regarding the efficacy of specific rewards. This article compares the beliefs held by members of diverse demographic groups in R&D organizations regarding the extent to which different types of rewards produce organizational benefits. Results based on evaluations from over 1000 R&D scientists and engineers across 30 companies found that intrinsic rewards and salary increases were widely believed to provide benefits to an organization. Individual cash rewards were generally seen as providing the fewest benefits. However, members of different ethnic groups and genders held different beliefs about the utility of several rewards. The article concludes by suggesting how similarities and differences in beliefs across a diverse group of employees could affect the management of rewards in R&D settings     

View from the top: responding to the business divisions' needs[R&D]

The ways in which the various components of corporate R&D have changed in response to escalating worldwide competitiveness, (with basic research remaining more or less untouched) are examined. Some lessons learned by R&D executives about how to be first with the best are noted, and various attempts to streamline corporate R&D are described. These include giving business divisions a greater role in selecting R&D projects, decentralizing R&D efforts, having research teams and development teams work jointly on common goals, joint ventures, and working with universities. Measuring the R&D payoff is discussed, and some shortcomings of R&D in various countries as perceived by corporate executives are indicated     

High-tech start-ups, better off with government contracts than withsubsidies: new evidence in Canada

A study analyzing the relationship between early growth and the type of government support/contract received by a firm at start-up is reported. It is based on the observation of 73 microelectronics and communication high-tech firms founded between 1965 and 1980 in various parts of Canada. The main conclusion is that firms starting as government suppliers do significantly better than firms receiving other types of government support at start-up. These firms tend to be better organized than firms receiving grants or subsidiaries, and they are more export-oriented and generally use technologies and serve markets similar to those of a previous employer. Government contracts for goods and services are more important to the future growth and success of the firms than contracts for R&D and R&D support mechanisms     

Inventive payoff from R&D in Japanese industry: convergencewith the West

An attempt is made to determine if investment in R&D and the hiring of college-educated employees result in a higher rate of inventions. The relationship between the input of R&D and inventive output is studied in two samples of Japanese factories, 34 in 1982 and 44 in 1970. These results are compared with findings in a parallel American study. The correlations between R&D and inventive output are similar in Japan and America in the 1980s, despite some differences in the management of innovation in the two nations. Moreover, the most Westernized subsample of Japanese firms in the 1970s had correlations between R&D and invention similar to those observed in the American study. Thus, it is concluded that some degree of convergence may be taking place in R&D management strategies in the two nations     

Hidden Conflicts and Journalistic Norms: The Case of Self-Coverage

Because news and entertainment firms are increasingly under the same corporate umbrellas, it is likely that reporting by journalists on the cultural products and activities of their affiliated companies will rise. The theme of this study is that the phenomenon of reporting on one's own company is best understood through perspectives on goal conflict and organizational culture. The article argues the need to modify contemporary scholarly contentions that news firms expect open conflict between reporters and their superiors on policy issues. Interviews at two daily newspapers and Time magazine support the theoretically based proposition that investigation of their own organizations is very much an area where journalists draw away from confronting key professional conflicts. Centering on phenomena such as silent bargains and silent routines, the study suggests how conflicts about self-coverage are managed and how this conflict management is tied to larger dynamics of organizational control.     

Integrating R&D and marketing: a comparison of practices in theJapanese and American chemical industries

The authors analyze survey information collected from R&D and marketing managers working for American and Japanese chemical manufacturers. They report three key differences in the R&D marketing relationships between Japanese and American firms. Those differences involve the procedures for allocating the tasks between the functional areas, the activities assigned to each area as a result, and the potential for conflict between the two functions. Specifically, the authors find evidence that R&D departments in Japanese firms have a larger role in new product development than do marketing departments. American firms are not characterized by the same asymmetry in their relationship. Finally, the American firms studied did exhibit a greater potential for conflict between functions     

转变产品研发体系推动电信企业转型

企业转型是商业模式的再设计,中国电信企业的传统商业模式已经不适应当前的商业环境,亟需创建成功的新商业模式,实现企业转型。对于当前的中国电信企业来说,转型成功的关键因素是实现从基于产品的研发体系到基于商业模式的产品研发体系的转变。基于商业模式的产品研发体系应与战略紧密结合,建立跨部门的合作机制和目标研发管理框架,并以客户为中心设计解决方案。