MAKE PLATFORM INNOVATION DRIVE ENTERPRISE GROWTH
Article Abstract:
OVERVIEW: Most corporations lack a precise, operational definition of their product platforms, without which progress is difficult to achieve. With that definition, new product strategy must be recast to capture the degree to which common architectures and subsystems will be leveraged across existing and new market applications, as well as the timing of product introductions. Managers must also reconsider the financial model of the business, including investments in the development of platforms versus products, and the changes that are possible in the margins and contribution of platform-based products to profits. Perhaps most pressing are the organizational questions: How can the R&D executive best structure the organization and the processes by which groups plan and interact so as to facilitate platform development and platform-based product development? Recent efforts of IBM and other corporations to embrace platforms provide both a management and a technology paradigm.
Publication Name: Research-Technology Management
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0895-6308
Year: 2001
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THE TAO OF INNOVATION
Article Abstract:
OVERVIEW: Innovation is all about making things that people want to buy, not about patents or new technical developments. Consequently, the R&D organization needs to be constantly tuned to market shifts and needs, intimately involved with customers. Only in this way can it make the critical connection between what's needed and what's possible. In addition, the organization needs to identify superior technology that is mainline for success. Only then can the company achieve business leadership results, as Procter & Gamble has done with its top brands like Tide, Crest, Pampers, and others. The third important factor is an internal climate and culture that supports innovation. Here it is essential to have a CEO who demands innovation, leads the formation of the culture that supports it, and participates personally in making the necessary choices and decisions.
Publication Name: Research-Technology Management
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0895-6308
Year: 2001
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OPTIMIZING UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS
Article Abstract:
OVERVIEW: Although the Industrial Research Institute's R&D Trends Forecast for 2000 predicted more external R&D collaborations, accompanied by increased grants to universities, most research partnerships remain underutilized. They neither target strategic technological challenges nor function effectively. Nor do companies harvest the results as efficiently as they might. To remedy this, companies must develop organizational practices for aligning strategically, managing collaboratively and evaluating consistently. They must learn when to work with a university, how to select the right partner, how best to initiate, implement and integrate projects, and how to evaluate and learn from the collaboration experience.
Publication Name: Research-Technology Management
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0895-6308
Year: 2001
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
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