Michael Hobday

The project-based organisation: an ideal form for managing complex products and systems?

This paper examines the effectiveness of producing so-called CoPS (i.e., complex high value products, systems, networks, capital goods, and constructs) in a project-based organisation (PBO), as compared with a more traditional functional matrix organisation. A simple model is developed to show how the PBO relates to identified forms of matrix and functional organisation and a case study is used to identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of the two organisational forms for CoPS production. On the positive side, the PBO is an intrinsically innovative form as it creates and recreates new organisational structures around the demands of each CoPS project and each major customer. The PBO is able to cope with emerging properties in production and respond flexibly to changing client needs. It is also effective at integrating different types of knowledge and skill and coping with the project risks and uncertainties common in CoPS projects. However, the PBO is inherently weak where the matrix organisation is strong: in performing routine tasks, achieving economies of scale, coordinating cross-project resources, facilitating company wide technical development, and promoting organisation-wide learning. The PBO can also work against the wider interests of corporate strategy and business coordination. Strategies to stimulate organisational learning and technical leadership include the deployment of coordinators along functional lines to cut across project interests and incentives. Project tracking and guidance at the corporate level is also important for achieving broader business goals. The paper illustrates the wide variety of organisational choices involved in producing CoPS and argues that the nature, composition, and scale of the product in question have an important bearing on appropriate organisational form.

East Asian latecomer firms: Learning the technology of electronics

Abstract This paper introduces the idea of the latecomer firm to explore how the four dragons of East Asia (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore) learned to innovate in electronics. The paper examines the historical progress of technological development and sets out the institutional mechanisms by which firms acquired foreign technology. Using one case study from each country, the paper explores how East Asian firms learned process and product skills and know-how. Within the firms, subcontracting and original equipment manufacture (OEM) mechanisms acted as a training school for latecomers, enabling them to overcome entry barriers and to assimilate manufacturing and design technology. The needs of export customers drove the pace of learning and acted as a focusing device for technological assimilation, adaptation and innovation. To interpret the findings, a simple model of how latecomers linked their technological learning to export markets is put forward. In contrast with the research and development (R&D) and design-led strategies typical of leaders and followers, latecomers began with incremental improvements to manufacturing processes which led on to minor product innovations. The evidence suggests that the origins and paths of the East Asian latecomers continue to influence their strategies, structures and technological orientations.

Innovation in complex products and system

Over the past 5 to 10 years, empirical study has provided a much improved understanding of how innovation occurs in complex, high value capital goods. Research has began to illustrate the specific ways in which so-called complex products and systems (CoPS) are produced by firms, often working together in projects, and how innovation processes in CoPS differ from those commonly found in mass produced goods. This is an important research endeavour for at least three reasons. First, CoPS play a vital part in the modern economy and wider society. As the major capital goods which underpin manufacturing, services, trade and distribution, CoPS play a critical role in modern industrial and economic progress. As Rosenberg, N, 1976. Technological change in the machine tool industry, 1840–1910. In: Perspectives on Technology, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.Rosenberg (1976) has argued, capital goods are a key point of entry of new technology into the economic system. Second, because much conventional innovation wisdom is derived from research on high volume consumer products, new evidence, models and concepts are needed to properly understand innovation processes in CoPS. Third, at the practical levels of firm strategy and government policy, a robust understanding of innovation in CoPS is needed to enable firms to improve their performance and to guide the policy and regulatory agencies directly involved in decision-making in CoPS. Drawing from recent research, the purpose of this special issue is to provide substantial new insights into the innovation dynamics of CoPS, dealing with firm strategy, capability building, management practices, organisational form, product life cycles, government policy, measurements and conceptual frameworks. In this introduction, we argue not only that CoPS underpin the production of modern goods and services, but that much conventional innovation wisdom derived from studies of mass produced goods (e.g. the automobile and the semiconductor) either does not apply or applies with substantial qualification to CoPS. The aim of the Issue is to put innovation in CoPS ‘centre stage’ in the analysis of innovation. Part 1 of the introduction provides a definition of CoPS, highlighting the innovation and production contrasts with mass produced, commodity goods. Part 2 outlines key innovation issues raised by CoPS, showing the importance of systems integration, software and project management as core capabilities in the production of modern systems. Part 3 briefly summarises some of the key unanswered questions posed by CoPS, while Part 4 shows how each of the papers in this special issue attempt to answer some of these questions. Finally, Part 5 maps out future research directions, stressing the importance of building a deeper historical perspective on CoPS as a key transmission mechanism for new technology within the industrial and wider economic system.

Firm-level Innovation Models: Perspectives on Research in Developed and Developing Countries

Abstract This paper provides a critical review of firm-level innovation models based on research in the industrially advanced countries (IACs) and draws implications for firms in industrialising countries such as Korea and Taiwan. The paper summarises different categories of innovation model and identifies their achievements and weaknesses, showing how a few researchers have successfully linked IAC models to innovation processes found within the more advanced developing nations such as Korea. One of the chief contributions of IAC models is that many of them go substantially into the management of innovation and the decision-making processes within the firm. However, in general, there is a lack of empirical evidence to verify existing models, weak theoretical underpinnings and, in some cases, a failure to sufficiently recognise the diversity and unpredictability of innovation processes. The paper suggests how best to use innovation models and how to overcome some of the difficulties in future research.

Assessing the technological capabilities of firms: developing a policy tool

The development of technological capabilities results from an extended learning process and external policy agents can play an important role in its development. This paper outlines trends in governmental and non-governmental policy initiatives and the use of concepts such as capability and absorptive capacity, which are positioned within generic-staged models of capability maturity. This paper describes the development of a technology capability assessment/audit tool that has been designed to help locate firms within four archetypes based upon their level of maturity on nine key dimensions of the management of technology. The tool is intended to help bridge the gap between our theoretical understanding of the principles of technology management and policy practice - allowing policy makers to design mechanisms that focus resources in areas of greatest need through the appropriate selection of policy mechanisms and the targeted design of policy. The use of this tool in field experiments is described along with the implications for policy making.

Technology management in complex product systems (CoPS) - ten questions answered

A new field of innovation research is developing around the theme of complex product systems (CoPS): high cost, engineering and software intensive products, systems, capital goods, networks and constructs, produced in projects or small batches. The paper poses ten questions concerning underlying innovation processes, company strategy, management, and project effectiveness and efficiency. In attempting to provide answers to the ten questions, the paper touches on the nature of best management practice in CoPS, common problems confronted (and how to overcome them), how to improve productivity and how to increase learning from project-to-project. The paper argues that innovation processes in CoPS differ in many respects from those commonly found in mass production, commodity goods made from standard components and, as a result, innovation management differs. Section 2 (Part 1) begins with three analytical questions concerning the intrinsic nature of CoPS, contrasting these with commodity goods. Section 3 (Part 2) presents six practical management questions frequently posed by managers. In conclusion, the final question touches on promising new research directions in the study of innovation in CoPS.

Tools for technology management: an academic perspective

The value of management tools is occasionally brought into question. They are sometimes seen as some form of crutch which managers deploy instead of thinking creatively. This paper attempts to clarify the nature of management tools and argues a case for their appropriate use. The paper distinguishes between tools and company procedures or systems and explores some new categorisations. Focusing specifically on technology management tools, the paper looks at where different tools have come from, and provides examples from industry, government and consultancy companies. The role academics can play in their development is explored, with the paper arguing that they are in a rare position to impartially scrutinise and evaluate existing tools as well as contribute to the development of new tools to solve unusual and complex problems.

Technological learning in Singapore: A test case of leapfrogging

Some technology analysts have suggested that developing countries (DCs) might be able to ‘leapfrog’ earlier technological paradigms and catch up in the field of electronics. This paper provides a partial test case of the leapfrogging argument, using evidence from Singapores electronics industry. It shows that technology was accumulated through a gradual process of learning, rather than by leapfrogging. Indeed, corporate learning was incremental, painstaking, long‐term and cumulative. Also in contrast with the leapfrogging hypothesis, firms tended to enter electronics at the mature phase of the product cycle rather than the early stage. Furthermore, much of the technology accumulated by Singapores electronics industry was ‘pre‐electronic’ in character, involving crafts, mechanical and precision engineering, electro‐mechanical interfacing and basic manufacturing skills, rather than the software, computer and R&D skills usually associated with electronics. The evidence from Singapore suggests that industri...

The Electronics Industries of the Asia–Pacific: Exploiting International Production Networks for Economic Development

Although the electronics industry has been one of the main driving forces behind the export‐led growth of the newly industrialising economies (NIEs) of the Asia–Pacific, there has until recently been little empirical research showing how the various NIEs managed to enter international markets and gain technology. This paper describes the overall characteristics of the electronics sector in the NIEs, highlighting the main organisational innovations which have enabled local firms to enter international markets and acquire foreign technology. The OEM (original equipment manufacture) system, prevalent in East Asia, is contrasted with the TNC (transnational company)‐led growth dominant in Southeast Asia. The paper also discusses the emerging ‘contract electronics manufacturing’, or CEM, which could threaten traditional OEM and TNC‐subsidiary production in the NIEs. The electronics sector proves to be a rich source of empirical material, both for understanding the processes of economic development and for illustrating the role of latecomer enterprise in engaging with and exploiting international production networks.

Strategic planning in Research and Technology Institutes

Presents information that was based on nine of the most successful Research and Technology Institutes (RTIs) in Europe, North America and East Asia with reference to the assessment of the challenges faced by RTIs. Detailed information on the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of RTIs; Arguments on the type of analysis that should be used for the planning and management of these institutes.