Classification of R&D organizational structures in relation tostrategies

Formal structures of R&D organizations are classified into a number of types in connection with overall corporate organizations and according to corporate strategies. The data encompass 110 Japanese large firms in all of the manufacturing sectors including most R&D-intensive firms. Concepts underlying the types are interpreted in view of corporate innovation strategies including organizational design strategies. The classification and the concepts are expected to provide a common language for discussion in organizational design process. Statistical analyses show that these types are not determined by sectors, firm size, product fields, or other conventional managerial parameters. This finding is interpreted to indicate that R&D organizational structures reflect characteristic strategies of firms, including organizational design strategies which are not reduced to conventional materialistic factors of management     

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     

External-internal linkages and overseas autonomy-control tension:the management dilemma of the Japanese R&D in Europe

By examining how external/internal linkages held by overseas R&D labs affect autonomy-control tension within multinational corporations (MNCs), managerial dilemmas pertinent to international R&D management are discussed, especially in the context of internationalization of Japanese R&D in Europe. R&D is liable to be affected by high autonomy-control tension due to countervailing institutional forces at the functional level (research/corporate) and the geographical level (host country/home country). The external linkages an overseas R&D lab develops tend to increase the expected degree of local autonomy vis-a-vis the parent. The external linkages tend to increase the need for internal control on the part of the parent, especially when such sensitive issues as intellectual property rights and research initiatives are involved. Managers use internal linkages as a condition based on which local autonomy can be granted. Similarly, a high degree of internal linkages tends to decrease the difficulty of internal control and would even allow for some potential increase in local autonomy. An alternative multinational linkage strategy becomes necessary for the Japanese MNCs in the era of global R&D management in which the conventional social/cultural control mechanism may break down. This paper attempts to provide a basic framework which enables the association of such differences in linkage patterns with autonomy-control tension in a systematic way so that some new insight would be obtained regarding this classic yet unresolved tension     

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     

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     

Top management support of R&D projects: a strategic leadershipperspective

A study of top management support of 213 R&D projects in 21 major firms revealed significant relationships between independent informants' perceptions of top management support, project characteristics, and project performance. Testing a model based on a strategic leadership perspective, top management support was found to be directed at certain types of projects, i.e., those that were expected to make greater contributions to business goals, represented larger investments, were seeking new products and process versus incremental improvements, and had originated from business sources as opposed to R&D. In addition, even after controlling for these project characteristics, projects with top management support were less likely to be terminated. In contrast, after controlling for project characteristics, completed projects with top management support were not judged to make greater contributions to the firm's business goals suggesting top management may not be able to pick winners. Findings are discussed in terms of future research and implications for top management leadership within R&D     

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     

Conditional stochastic dominance in R&D portfolio selection

This paper describes a methodology for the selection of research and development (R&D) projects to add to or remove from an existing R&D portfolio. The analysis uses the criterion of conditional stochastic dominance to make selection recommendations. This criterion takes into account the effect of a given project on the risk and return of the existing portfolio. The authors use a methodology previously employed to analyze stock portfolios; however, they apply it using simulation in an R&D portfolio context. They apply the methodology to the portfolios of two actual companies and find that it generates priorities very close to those developed by internal company heuristics. They conclude that this methodology can be applied appropriately in these circumstances and that its recommendations are consistent with observed decision maker behavior. Their results suggest that an R&D manager should not consider project selection decisions in isolation, but, following this methodology, should take into account the context of the existing portfolio     

A comparison of R&D project termination factors in fourindustrial nations

With firms establishing R&D facilities abroad, it is important for R&D managers to understand how decisions are made and the factors that affect them in different countries. The decision to terminate an ongoing R&D project is made based on a number of factors. Some of these are objective and based on actual data, while others are mostly qualitative and subjective. Previous studies have identified a number of factors found to be important in the context of firms in the United States. Some recent studies have identified such factors in Germany and in the United Kingdom. This study examines the factors in the Japanese context in addition to the three countries. It further compares these factors from the four countries and provides some explanations for the similarities and the differences between the factors. Based on the results of this comparative study it suggests the implications for R&D management     

R&D Activity Selection Process: Building a Strategy-Aligned R&D Portfolio for Government and Nonprofit Organizations

This paper presents a portfolio building process for large public and/or nonprofit research organizations. The proposed approach allocates a research and development (R&D) program budget, taking into consideration both applications and technological areas. It starts with the definition of program objectives and covers the allocation of an R&D program budget, including a final activity selection, according to specific criteria. Budget allocation decisions rely on estimations of risk and return for areas and projects, based on the Markowitz portfolio selection model. A scenario implementation of the proposed portfolio building process in the context of a space agency is included. The application to other areas is also discussed.     

Foreign R&D in the United States

A new study reveals a marked rise in US activity of R&D by foreign companies. How large is direct foreign investment in R&D in the USA? What exactly do these facilities research and develop? Why have non-US companies set up new operations or expanded existing facilities for R&D in the USA? How do these firms decide where to locate? To address these and related questions, the operations of over 50 European, Japanese, and South Korean R&D facilities were studied. All belong to the the electronics, biotechnology or automotive industries. The results of this study are analysed     

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。     

Teamwork plus technology cuts development time

The deleterious effects of not bringing projects quickly from the laboratory to the market are described, and corporate efforts to cut development time are examined. Many Japanese companies have already wrestled with this problem and moved on to other issues, like their need for basic research. As a result, many US corporations are looking to the Japanese for guidance. This is leading companies to restructure their organizations to encourage open, frequent, and early communication. Launching research projects with technology transfer in view from the start is another approach modeled after the Japanese. Central to Japanese technology transfer is the fact that as a project moves from laboratory to market, the engineers move with it. This is also being tried by some US firms. A less widespread approach to shortening time to market is called concurrent engineering, in which an item is designed concurrently with the processes that would be used to assemble it, manufacture its parts, test it, and repair it in the field. Standardization is also being used to boost researchers' output     

An interactive approach for selecting IR&D projects

The authors present a strategy for systematically allocating resources to competing independent research and development (IR&D) projects in a company building systems for the US Department of Defense. The approach is less mathematically complex than many techniques reported in the literature, utilizing the judgement of key business and technical elements in the organization. The authors first give a taxonomy characterizing various approaches and briefly review R&D selection methods reported in literature. Then they describe an interactive process that they have developed for selecting IR&D projects which, rather than substituting complex calculations for good technical and material judgement, facilitates better utilization of the expertise of various organizational elements within the context of corporate strategic planning. Procedures are included for idea submittal and evaluation. Experiences are discussed obtained during the application of the process to a corporation with multiple business units     

Employee involvement in quality improvement: a comparison ofAmerican and Japanese manufacturing firms operating in the US

The authors sought to determine whether firms classified as incorporating a Japanese quality management approach had significantly higher levels of worker involvement in the quality effort as well as higher utilization of statistical quality control (SQC) tools. The three types of firms represented were traditional American firms, Japanese firms operating in the US, and nontraditional American firms emulating the Japanese approach to quality management. Results suggest that Japanese and nontraditional American firms (1) have a significantly higher level of worker involvement and (2) use simple SQC tools significantly more than traditional American firms. In addition, Japanese firms operating in the US showed results comparable to these American firms practicing Japanese quality management techniques     

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     

Task Conflict, Integrative Potential, and Conflict Management Strategies in Joint Ventures

Existing studies of conflict management in joint ventures (JVs) assume that the characteristics of the tasks that generate conflict have no impact on either the conflict-performance relationship or on the effectiveness of conflict management techniques. In this paper, we challenge this assumption by examining JV conflict over R&D and marketing tasks. Because JVs decisions are made by two or more partners, often with very different goals and agendas, the potential for conflict is high. In some cases, this conflict can have a positive impact on performance. We hypothesize that this possibility is more likely in the context of R&D task conflict, because: 1) marketing task conflict is relatively more likely to involve distributive (win-lose) issues and 2) when win-win (integrative) potential exists, disputants are relatively less likely to perceive this potential in marketing task conflicts (i.e., the disputants in a marketing task conflict are more likely to approach their conflict from a fixed-pie perspective). Our analysis of data collected from 196 JVs clearly supports this hypothesis. We also find that the relative effectiveness of different conflict management strategies varies depending on whether they are applied to R&D or marketing task conflict. Our results demonstrate the importance of aligning conflict management strategies with the integrative potential of R&D and marketing tasks.     

Technology diversification in “MUL-TECH” corporations

This paper explores the nature of technology diversification at the product and corporate levels and shows its strong impact upon growth of R&D expenditures and growth of corporate sales. The emergence of “mul-tech” corporations, that is, corporations operating in many technologies, is demonstrated and the hypothesis that technology diversification creates a potential for growth is tested. However, in order to realize mul-tech-based growth it is of vital importance to gear technology management toward reaping both economies of scale and of scope through, among other things, communication and coordination, external technology sourcing and internal technology transfer, and cross-fertilization     

Scientific output of small and medium size firms in high techindustries

The author focuses on the scientific output of small and medium-sized firms in high-tech industries in the US. The indicators for technological output have been defined differently by different researchers. Economists have used patents as the measure of research and development (R&D) output, partly because they are easier to delineate than other indicators. Behavioral researchers interested in the R&D management process have relied on publications as a surrogate measure for R&D output, while research in science policy and innovation has focused on products and processes as indicators of innovation and technical output. The author focuses on all three measures as indicators of R&D output and investigates the interrelationship among them as well as the correlates for this output. Except for the chemical industry. R&D expenditure is closely related to size as measured by annual sales, rather than the net income. It is observed that a growing firm is more likely to spend proportionately more money in R&D. The three output measures-patents, papers, and new products-are correlated, but the pattern of the relationship is different in different industries. It is noted that a firm's grown is linked with new products in only some industries. Patents do not seem to have any effect on sales growth. The growth in R&D is not a factor leading to a higher level of scientific productivity. The important factor is the average level of R&D spending. The policy implication for this observation is to maintain a steady funding level of R&D, avoiding sudden changes in R&D budget