Industrial Research For Future Competitiveness

Industrial research has come under pressure. Will recent budget cuts reduce competitiveness? Based on interviews in Japanese and European high-tech firms it is shown that research supports important potentials. These can be used for project funding, location decisions, and an analysis of sufficient conditions for research success. Careful management of the potentials should improve future competitiveness, and it should help to understand why industrial firms benefit from research and how.

Technology can contribute to economic growth and productivity increases. Legislative activity over the past 25 or more years has created a policy for technology development. Because of the lack of consensus on the scope and direction of a national policy, Congress has taken an incremental approach aimed at creating new mechanisms to facilitate technological advancement in particular areas and making changes and improvements as necessary. Contents of this report: (1) Technol. and Competitive.; (2) The Fed. Role in Technology Development; (3) Legislative Initiatives and Current Programs: Increased R&D Spending: Industry-Univ. Coop. Efforts; Joint Industrial Research; Commercializing Federally Funded R&D; Different Approach?

"This book combines the data and analyses of research with the perspective and interpretive commentary of the practitioner. ... provides the reader with a grasp of the dynamic nature of industrial research, the influences that shape it, and its role in society. Factors that shape current industrial research, including the internationalization of R&D, declining defense expenditures, and the corporate environment, are covered. ...describes the globalization of industrial operation and the current and future challenges that globalization will bring."--Back cover.

Information Technology (IT) - the field that links computer and communications equipment and software - is transforming the way modern business is done. Examples of factors leading these changes are: rapidly decreasing costs of computer hardware, government de-regulation, accelerating global competitiveness, an increasing management awareness, and the knowledge of how to employ Information Technology successfully. These have all led to the increase of IT's effects on existing markets, and, in the process, are creating entirely new markets. This book explores a variety of advances in IT by a group of researchers who are at the cutting edge of this research. Moreover, the book examines these innovative developments in terms of the Information Technology field and its effect on modern business. It is becoming increasingly apparent that IT is critical to success in today's competitive marketplace. As a result, this book examines a host of emerging effects at work in these developments and seeks to make sense out of these counter-acting, sometimes multiplicative, effects which can become obstacles for managers who wish to develop competitive applications of IT. These effects and the development of IT are grouped into four general categories in the book: Future Markets, Inter-Organizational Systems, Focused Applications, and Future Strategies.

Based on empirical research of over 240 interviews the authors present new concepts and trends in global R&D management. Case studies from 18 best-practice companies give detailed answers to the most pressing challenges for mastering international innovation. "...a real tour de force, probably destined to become a standard in this field for some time to come." Professor Jeff Huang, Harvard University "A feast of delights... deserves a very wide readership." Phil Gamlen, ICI Technology - Science and Technology Policy Strategy

Is the United States in danger of losing its competitive edge in science and technology "S & T"? In response to this concern, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness asked RAND to convene a meeting, held on November 8, 2006, to review evidence presented by experts from academia, government, and the private sector. The papers presented at the meeting addressed a wide range of issues surrounding the United States' current and future S & T competitiveness, including science policy, the quantitative assessment of S & T capability, globalization, the rise of Asia "particularly China and India", innovation, trade, technology diffusion, the increase in foreign-born S & T students and workers in the United States, new directions in the management and compensation of federal S & T workers, and national security and the defense industry. These papers provide a partial survey of the facts, challenges, and questions posed by the potential erosion of U.S.S & T capability. The importance of S & T to U.S. prosperity and security warrants that policymakers pay careful attention to the various high-level reports issued over the past ve years that warn of pressures on the U.S. lead in S & T. The intellectual point of embarkation for the RAND meeting was the foremost recent such report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, by the National Academy of Sciences.

The Handbook of Research on Competitive Strategy presents a comprehensive state-of-the-art picture of current strategic management issues and demarcates the major investigation strands that are likely to shape the field into the future. The Handbook is the outcome of a far-reaching endeavour including new contributions from highly-reputed experts around the world, outlining the conceptual and empirical advancements and assessing the promises and practical relevance of the competitive strategy field. Looking at key areas such as alliances and innovation, ownership and networks, coopetition and entrepreneurship, multinational and trust management, and firm's financial structures and business models, the book sets a research agenda for the future of competitive strategy research. Gathering various solid branches of investigation that revolve around specific theories and applications (such as the socio-cognitive perspective, the strategy-as-practice view, and the most recent developments in competitive dynamics and the resource-based perspective of the firm), this inspiring and thought-provoking Handbook will provide executives, entrepreneurs, students and scholars in management with many insights into the nature and process of competitive strategy emergence, configuration and development.

What are the secrets of competitive R&D on a global scale? The nineties have seen the largest international R&D expansion ever. Investigating more than 1000 R&D laboratories of 80 companies, this book presents the largest description of global R&D practice. Based on 240 research interviews and case studies from 18 best-practice companies, the authors introduce new concepts and trends that will shape global R&D management in the early 21st century. "Managing Global Innovation is a rich compendium of new concepts of global R&D, enlivened by 18 excellent best-in-class case studies. What is especially impressive, the authors bridge seamlessly theoretical and practical issues about how companies create, transform and implement new technology in an expanding marketplace. This will be intriguing to both the industry and the academic world. The lessons learned are invaluable. The book is a real tour de force, probably destined to become a standard in this field for some time to come." Professor Jeff Huang, Harvard University "This excellent book demonstrates how the dynamics of innovation and creativity can be mastered. Important reading for senior management and a must for R&D leaders." Karl Weinberger, Head of Corporate R&D, Schindler "A feast of delights... deserves a very wide readership." Phil Gamlen, ICI Technology - Science and Technology Policy Strategy.