File 10: the organization of RD

Question 1

What roles did the US universities have in the development of the mainframe computer and software? (2)

Answer 1

1. research

2. link that facilitated communication between the us military and the commercial users

Question 2

Explain the development of the radar in the UK. Explain how this demonstrates the organization of RD. Compare it to Germany’s development of radar.

Answer 2

UK:
1. WWII: interest in detection of enemy aircraft/ships. They had an accumulation of knowledge on radio echoes and death rays (radiowaves that may stop an aircraft engine)
2.The british air ministry enquired the government radio research station about death rays which were not possible but the government sair they can use radio waves to locate aircrafts.
3. thus leading to a research program: research on radar and the government radio, the recruitment of universities students to strenghten research and station, contracts with private firms to development equipment
4. By 1940: a workable radar was created
GERMANY:
1. had an accumulation of knowledge of radar but in `1939 they decided the results were not significant and the project was suspended but then it restarted by the Plenipotentiary of High Frequency Techniques that separately communicated with the air ministry and the research institutions
2. the imposition of the Plenipotentiary between the researchers and producers created poor coomunication: the needs of the air ministry were less comm to the researchers, the new technology were less communicated to the air ministry
=> British allowed for direct communication between air ministry and researchers

Question 3

Explain the organization of RD of the Scottish firms engaged in the production of heavy engineering goods (rail cars).

Answer 3

1. post wwii: the government encouraged them to engage into the consumer electronic industry because it was a rapidly growing market and required RD to improve and develop technology
2. Science graduates were hired to staff the RD departments
3. the RD units did not function well: tensions in firm caused by appearance of the science grads (lenght of hair), their time keeping, their unwillingness to pretend to work and their minimum premium.
   => company used social isolation to solve this problem (relocating them, walling them off) => all the RD did not pay off and the venture into consumer electronics was abandonned due to indirect communication

Question 4

What does successfull introduction of RD into an organization require? (2)

Answer 4

1. horizontal communication between researchers of RD and producers of RD
2. organizations principles that differ in RD unit then the other units.

Question 5

How different units/parts of an organizations going to differ? Taking that into account, how would the variations in their organizational characteristics differ?

Answer 5

1. the kind of people hire:
   a) RD: scientists, engineers
   b) production: engineers
   c) msrketing: business and art graduates
2. the kind of work done:
   a) RD: monitors and uses science
   b) production: keep output on schedule whilst maintaining a good quality
   c) marketing: pleasing customers and aquiring feeback on customers for future needs

=> organization characteristics:

a) RD: non routine work with difficult to intepret evidence performanc and long periods of time before evidence of performance. less day supervision, less specific reporting requirements and longer period between eval and quality of work
b) production: routine work with evidence of performance adequacy. close day to day bureaucratic control (detail reports, performance reviews frequently, short period of time between performance and feedback)
c) marketing: between the 2

Question 6

According to Burgelman and Sayles, how do you integrate the results of innovation in an RD intensive multiproduct firm?

Answer 6

1. RD put into a separed department with its own supervision and reporting structures
2. researchers were allowed to do 3 types of work: things specifically assigned to them , exploratory work as part a firm defined project (first 2 are funded), bootleg research: researchers explore their own ideas (accepted that researchers divert 10% of their budget to this)

Question 7

According to Burgelman and Sayles on how do you integrate the results of innovation in an RD intensive multiproduct firm, what happened when exploratory work (including bootleg) generated a useful idea?

Answer 7

Internal Corporate venturing through a new venture division:

1. idea presented to corporate management w justification of its technical quality, the extent it met the market need, extent the idea fitted into area of corporate interest
2. if pass 1: corporate assigned New Business Manager to work w RD manager = pre venture phase. New business manager develops idea about market for innovation (hard because can only get inofrmation from customers themselves)
3. if new manager can build care that the idea has a market, firm creates a pre venture team which involves: product/process champion (manager capable of convincing higher management that new product is feasible and will generate large return to warrant investment), engineering competence for production issue, marketing information
4. if preventure team makes a case for idea and it is decided it will go into production, the new venture division is created and is respnsible for this innovation.

Question 8

What are the problems associated with internal corporate venturing?

Answer 8

1. those in RD can be contemptuous of their managers in RD bc managers no longer fo RD and dont have the same technical competence
2. RD dont trust business managers: new business managers methodologies are less precise as those used in RD and once the wider firm gets involved it gets bureaucratic (reports…)
3. developing ideas require customer cooperation which is hard.
4. new venture division hsa to make difficult strategic choice: what performance target should be set, going to market? (too early may lead to quality control problems)