How Canon and Sony Drive Product Innovation Through Networking and Application-Focused R&D
How Canon and Sony Drive Product Innovation Through Networking and Application-Focused R&D
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佳能和索尼如何通过网络和以应用为中心的 R 推动产品创新
DOI：
10.1111/1540-5885.1440288
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发表时间：
1997
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Sigvald Harryson
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Sigvald Harryson
为了确保公司产品供应的持续活力，对当前和潜在市场的清晰理解必须推动研发工作。新产品的高效、低成本制造需要一个了解生产部门并与之有效互动的研发组织。一家公司如何创造一种环境，使其研发机构由精通市场、对生产友好的多种技术专家组成？
To ensure the ongoing vitality of a company's product offerings, RD clear understanding of current and potential markets must drive R&D efforts. And efficient, cost-effective manufacturing of new products requires an R&D organization that understands and interacts effectively with the production department. How does a company create an environment in which its R&D organization comprises market-savvy, production-friendly experts in diverse technologies?
With case studies of R&D efforts at Canon and Sony, Sigvald Harryson identifies and illustrates the key mechanisms that these companies use to foster product innovation. His examples show how Canon and Sony use a combination of external and internal networking mechanisms to identify and acquire key technologies and related skills, gain market knowledge, improve the results of internal R&D efforts, and ensure the successful transfer of these results to efficient production processes.
He identifies four key mechanisms underlying successful product innovation at Canon and Sony: strategic training and job rotation for engineers, application-driven R&D, direct transfer of development teams from R&D to production, and extensive networking with external centers of excellence and key suppliers. At Canon, the initial training program for all researchers and engineers begins with three months of work on a production line. Sony's new researchers and development engineers spend one month in production. Both companies also give their new R&D professionals three months of training in sales and marketing.
The emphasis on market-driven research at both companies means that researchers have identified some commercial application for almost every initial research proposal that gains approval. Neither company treats research as a long-term assignment; almost all engineers at both companies eventually move from the labs to production. And rather than viewing this job rotation strategy as a drain on the technological expertise in their labs, both companies rely on strong external networks with key suppliers and university-based researchers as important sources for acquiring new technologies and the competencies needed to support them.