Thomas J. Allen

Project performance and the locus of influence in the R&D matrix

This study examines the relationship between project performance and the relative influence of project and functional managers in 86 R&D teams in nine technology-based organizations. Performance re...

Delineating the Anatomy of an Entrepreneurial University: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Experience

In many universities, heads, administrators and faculty seek to increase the propensity to engage in commercialization of research activity through the spinoff of new companies. The highly complex mechanism of spinoff generation is typically considered the result of either the characteristics of individuals, organizational policies and structures, organizational culture, or the external environment. Explanations of spinoff activity have in the main focused on only one of these dimensions at a time. In this paper we integrate these four dimensions of academic entrepreneurship to develop a more systemic understanding of spinoff activity at the university level. Using the case of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a top spinoff generator in the United States, a systemic analysis is presented. We identify the inter-related factors that have contributed to successful academic entrepreneurship in MIT. We argue that MITs success is based on the science and engineering resource base at MIT; the quality of research faculty; supporting organizational mechanisms and policies such as MITs Technology Licensing Office; and the culture within MIT faculty that encourages entrepreneurship. However, to understand why MIT has developed these resources and organizational mechanisms, it is necessary to understand the historical context and emergence of MIT, and in particular the historical mission of the university, the role of key individuals and university leaders in supporting this mission, and the impact of past success at commercialization activity. Finally, we suggest that MITs success needs to be understood in the context of the local regional environment. We argue that university administrators and academics can learn from the case of MIT, but that efforts at transposing or replicating single elements of MITs model may only have limited success, given the inter-related nature of the drivers of spinoff activity.

Technology Transfer as a Function of Position in the Spectrum from Research Through Development to Technical Services

The manner in which research and development projects most effectively acquire new technology is shown to vary with the nature of the project. Research projects perform best when all project member...

R&D performance as a function of internal communication, project management, and the nature of the work

Both the amount and value of internal communication vary with the specific R&D function to be performed. Product and process development projects benefit far more than research or technical service projects from good internal communication. Technical service projects show higher performance when the project manager assumes primary responsibility for coupling the project to other parts of the organization.

The process of innovation in five industries in Europe and Japan

The study examines the relationship between outside influences and the firms innovation process. A sample of commercially successful and unsuccessful R&D projects of a number of firms is discussed in terms of diverse market, resource, technical and organizational factors. The stimulus for a project, the sources of ideas used and the influences of competition and regulatory constraints were expected to vary among industries, and these differences are described. The authors suggest that their findings might be understood based on the evolution of a business from one having initially fluid and independent product and process technologies to one having a highly automated process technology designed for a specific standard product. Consequently, the relationship between product and process will shape and constrain the firms ability to innovate in response to a changing environment.

The Influence of Communication Technologies on Organizational Structure A Conceptual Model for Future Research

The article presents a conceptual model that hypothesizes how information technologies may assist in accomplishing two key functions of communication in research and development. The first function is to provide state-of-the-art information on the organizational technologies that are employed. This function is typically carried out via a functional organization structure, which groups together individuals with similar technical specialties. The second function is to accomplish coordination across technical specialties applied to the same task or project. This is typically accomplished by a project form of organization, which groups together individuals working on the same task. The cost of selecting one structure is the loss of the advantages of the other. Information technologies, such as electronic mail, computer conferencing, bulletin boards, and document search and retrieval systems, may be employed to augment the chosen structure and compensate to some degree for its limitations.

Studies of the problem-solving process in engineering design

Three sets of parallel R&D projects are examined. The data analyzed were gathered by means of Solution Development Records — a form which provides a weekly estimate of the probability of adoption of the approaches under consideration as possible solutions to a technical problem. It is found that the longer an approach is held in a favored position, the more difficult it is to reject. Furthermore, the number of alternative technical approaches considered bears a relation to judged solution quality. Groups producing higher rated solutions generated fewer approaches during the course of the project, and they more closely approach an ideal strategy of trading approaches off on a two-at-a-time basis than do their poorer performing rivals.

A field experiment to improve communications in a product engineering department : the non-territorial office

A year-long investigation was undertaken to determine the impact, of a radical new scheme of office layout on work-related behavior, communication, and performance. The office layout under investigation is best described as “nonterritorial”. It is an open floor plan arrangement, but goes far beyond the traditional open-space office, removing not only office walls, but most permanent stations as well. Employees (product engineers) work at large round tables, which are distributed through the office area, and may locate themselves anywhere that they wish on any given day, or at different times during a day. The experiment was successful to the extent that employees preferred the new arrangement over the traditional one- and two-person offices they had previously occupied and that communication within the department increased significantly. It was unsuccessful in that no measurable increase in departmental performance was registered over the period of the study.

ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES IN THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES

More than ever before, organizations competing in today’s world of high technology are faced with the challenges of “dualism,” that is, functioning efficiently today while planning and innovating effectively for tomorrow. Not only must these organizations be concerned with the success and market penetration of their current product mix, but they must also be concerned with their long-run capability to develop and incorporate in a timely manner the most appropriate technical advancements into future product offerings. Research and development-based corporations, no matter how they are organized, must find ways to internalize both sets of concerns.

Transferring technology to the small manufacturing firm: A study of technology transfer in three countries

Abstract Case histories were compiled of 100 instances of technological change in 102 manufacturing companies in eight industries in Ireland, Spain and Mexico. The cases are analyzed for the source of initial ideas and for sources of technology employed in resolving major problems. Technology is found to flow principally through informal channels within industries. Very little information was obtained from the formal mechanisms or institutions normally considered central to the technology transfer process. Foreign subsidiaries obtain the greatest proportion of their technology from their parent firms. Surprisingly, they are found to have several channels of technology blocked to them, which are more readily available to domestic firms. Domestic firms, in many ways have easier access to foreign technology than do the subsidiaries of multinational firms. Product and process innovations originate in somewhat different quarters. Process innovations are slightly more likely to be based on foreign technology; product innovations are more likely to be based on domestic technology. The results reported in the present paper are very similar in many ways to results reported previously in Brazil and Australia.