International Journal of Innovation Management

This paper examines the links between human resource management (HRM) and the motivation of technical professionals located in R&D (research and development) functions. This issue is addressed through case studies of four large technology-based firms. Interviews were conducted with human resource managers, line managers and technical professionals. The various HRM practices identified in the case studies are analysed with respect to their impact on the motivation of technical professionals. In particular, the research reveals that there is confusion between appraisal and performance management, and that explicit career management procedures are poorly deployed.

This paper describes exploratory research which investigates the scope, nature, role and activities of guest engineers. Guest engineers are an inter-firm organisational mechanism which is usually deployed as a compromise between the total outsourcing of design on the one hand, and the total in-house development of products on the other. A classification of guest engineers is presented based on their permanent (or semi-permanent) location and the main focus of their engineering expertise. Four types of guest engineer are identified — the pure form of which is termed the guest design engineer (GDE). Suppliers of GDEs, together with their hosts, are examined to identify their most significant activities and tasks. These are divided into clusters of similar activities which are assessed according to their relative importance and relative performance. Differences are found between suppliers' and customers' perceptions of both the importance and performance of each of these cluster activities. In addition, three sets of significant role design decisions are identified: the scheduling of GDEs; the nature of the required skills; and the direct activities of GDEs during the development process itself.

This paper analyses a number of factors which are implicated in the success of biomedical innovation processes in the United Kingdom (UK): the observability of the innovation process to the participants; the role and interests of UK public and private sector networks; and the ability of the wider constituency to push or drive the innovation process. This study addresses four ongoing developments (familial breast cancer diagnosis, cystic fibrosis gene therapy, inherited eye disease gene therapy and breast cancer screening). The paper draws directly on research funded by the ESRC. Documentary evidence has been analysed for relevant information together with information derived from semi-structured interviews. This has taken account of the key contributions over time from differing professional groups, public and commercial organisations (including user groups) and sectors.

The concept of corporate vision has been receiving considerable attention in the strategy scholarship. A clear and lofty organisational vision can provide direction to a company and can positively impact on its ability to succeed. Yet research on vision at the project level has been curiously lacking. The purpose of this research is to define project vision, discuss its components and its impact on successful new product development. By studying the vision on a series of innovations at one company (IBM), we identified several components of an effective vision that include clarity, agreement, support and stability. This article concludes with an assessment of the applicability of these vision components for the extreme form of innovation called radical innovation.

In spite of the recent extension of our knowledge on technological innovation, little inquiry has been made of the distinctive characteristics between R&D firms and non-R&D firms, as well as between product-innovative firms and process-innovative firms. To this end, the main objective of this empirical study, grounded on a large-scale innovation survey of Korean manufacturing firms, is to contrast these two types of firms. The results were mixed. Some hypotheses were confirmed while others were discordant with expectation. By and large, R&D firms and product-innovative firms seem to share a similar propensity, whereas non-R&D firms and process-innovative firms are alike in character. However, there were some unexpected findings which merit attention and are worthy of in-depth examination. Although the study is subject to limitations in terms of its research design and data gathering, the results render some important policy implications. Furthermore, comparative analyses between different types of innovations need to be addressed more extensively in future research.