Albert H. Rubenstein

Firm Size and Product Innovation

Abstract The linkage between firm size and product innovation has frequently been discussed by both researchers and other writers. John Ettlie and Albert Rubenstein report the results of a study which, by distinguishing between the incorporation of radical and incremental technology, attempts to resolve some of the controversy surrounding this issue. In particular, the authors hypothesize that up to a certain point, large firms with greater resources are more likely to commercialize radically new products successfully. Findings generally support this theory but refinements to the model are now possible. For example, firms with 1000 employees or less need not be excluded from radical product introduction if they resolve critical funding and research problems. This size-radicalness distribution is shaped like a fish hook or a claw. That is, up to about 1000 employees, there is no significant relationship between number of employees and radicalness of a new product. Between 1200 and 11,000 employees there is a significant, direct relationship. Finally, very large organizations (in excess of about 45,000 employees) are unlikely to introduce radically new products. Larger firms were significantly more likely to adopt ambitious new processing technologies in order to introduce these new products. Also, new product success was significantly predicted by the absence of finding problems in introducing the innovation and the degree to which the new product was a radical departure from existing practice.

University—Industry Relations: A Review of Major Issues

The relationship and the collaboration processes between universities and industrial companies have been the subject of increased interest in the past decade. Several workshops have been conducted, some sponsored by Federal agencies [1, 2, 3], others by universities and commercial entities [4, 5, 6, 7]. The National Science Foundation conducted and funded major efforts in industry-university cooperative research [8, 9]; such programs include the recently established engineering research centers in several universities. In other such programs, the Industry-University Collaborative Research Centers (IUCRC) involve multicompany arrangements in which each company pays a participant annual fee [10, 11].

The effects of perceived needs and means on the generation of ideas for industrial research and development projects

A flow model is presented which identifies some of the organizational factors influencing idea generation behavior in industrial RD and, 2) knowledge of a means or technique for satisfying the need, solving the problem, or capitalizing on the opportunity. These results are discussed with respect to the stages of creative thought proposed by other investigators. Finally, the organizational events, which were associated as “needs” events or “means” events for the ideas studied, are identified and analyzed with respect to both quantity and quality of ideas.

IMPLEMENTATION IN OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND R&D IN GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATION

Many of the organizational problems that are inherent in the integration of innovation-producing activities come to light in the form of difficulties experienced in achieving implementation of output. Such difficulties are common not only in operations research but in most forms of innovative activity, among them R&D. Growing out of the work that has been pursued at Northwestern in research programs on both the R&D process and the management of operations research/management science (OR/MS) activities, this paper examines the systemic causes of such implementation problems. We have hypothesized that the environment in which innovative activity is carried on is an important determinant of the mode and effectiveness of project implementations. Specifically, we have considered how goal operationally differences, such as may be found between government and business organizations, will influence the strategic behavior of the managers of innovative groups. The data in this paper come primarily from our OR/MS st...

Creativity in design: the contribution of information technology

Efforts to improve the design process in new product development often take the form of new information technologies, and they have had varying degrees of success. This paper considers the modern technologies of design and their impact on creativity. The analysis considers such design issues as problem structure, engineering knowledge, expert systems, ideation and the social context of technologies that affect their adoption and use. There exists a general bias toward the goals of effective coordination over enhanced creativity in the systems supporting design. Suggestions for research and practice are discussed.

Interorganizational transfer of technology: A study of adoption of NASA innovations

The study investigated the effects of: seven techno-economic factors, extent of top management support, six dimensions of organizational climate, and three modes of joint decision-making, on the adoption of NASA innovations. Seventy-three cases in sixty-five organizations were studied. Data were collected through field interviews and questionnaires. Parametric influences of communication channels and involvement of the innovator were examined. Implications for organizational design were considered. The data indicated that top management support was of primary importance in the success of product innovations. But techno-economic variables were of primary importance in the success of process innovations. The data also indicated that organizational climate and conflict resolution mechanisms were different in the successful and unsuccessful cases. Involvement of the innovator in implementation of the project was also found to be important.

Group Cohesiveness. A Factor in the Adoption of Innovations Among Scientific Work Groups.

The extension’ of explanatory principles derived from the controlled environments characteristic of laboratory experimentation to natural environments, which at best allow for a minimal degree of control, is cited frequently (e.g., Bickman and Henchy, ’1972) as an objective of behavioral science research. The intent of this paper is to illustrate by example how the concept of group cohesiveness, which has largely been developed and utilized in laboratory experimentation, can serve both a predictory and an explanatory function in field studies. There is a considerable amount of work describing the effects of the level of group cohesiveness on the willingness of group members to adopt various innovations (see Havelock, 1971), but there have been relatively few attempts to extend or test, in actual field or natural experiments, the hypotheses derived either from laboratory experiments or field surveys.

Trends in technology management revisited

Although many in the field of technology management do decry the ultra-narrow and nitpicking foci of some published papers and research projects, systematic, credible research in the field does require a high level of partitioning-as compared with general policy research or management consulting practice. Here, the author discusses fairly specific research approaches to some of the current trends of technology management, given that some of them, indeed, represent fairly broad issues in the field. >

The Use of Indicators and Measures of the R & D Process in Evaluating Science and Technology Programmes

In the past decade there has been an increase in the demands imposed on R & D performing units and organizations, in both industry and government, to evaluate the contribution of R & D to longer-term organizational goals. Decisionmakers in the R & D units and in other parts of the organization are aware of the complexity of the R & D process and of the inadequacy of routine evaluation methods when transposed to the R & D innovation area.

Management perceptions of government incentives to technological innovation in england, Trance, West Germany and Japan☆

Abstract This paper reports on four studies (in France, Germany (FRG), Japan, and United Kingdom) exploring reactions of industrial managers to government incentives (GIs), laws, policies, regulations, and other interventions intended to stimulate technological innovation. Propositions supported by the results are: (1) there are significant differences among industrial managers in different countries in their attitudes toward government actions relevant to the RD/I process; (2) Government actions to stimulate innovation are not perceived as salient to industrial RD/I (RD and (3) Government actions in general are perceived to delay introduction of innovations into the market. German and Japanese firms seemed most aware of, and favorably disposed toward, GIs. Low technology firms in the UK were more supportive of GIs than high technology firms. The opposite was the case in Japan and France, while little overall difference existed among firms in Germany. One must exercise care, however, in drawing inferences from such international comparisons; countries differ in the nature, scope, and administration of programs, as well as the effect of cultural characteristics. Managers in all countries were unanimous that general government policies (economic and otherwise) and general market and competitive conditions have a more significant impact on firm RD/I decision making than the specific incentive programs. Incentive programs were, with some exceptions, considered orders of magnitude too small to be of significance. The burden of administering procedurally complex and inflexible incentive programs and dealing with cumbersome government bureaucracy were considered significant detriments. General infrastructural elements such as the educational system, social recognition and support, and government standards-setting were considered more important than direct incentives.