Analysis of Research Project Launching at Industrial R&D

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Industrial research organizations are facing challenges in the global competitive environment. Managers tend to shift resources to research with a clear market objective. This approach, however, undermines the research organization's mission to create new capabilities and offerings. This study revealed from case studies at two companies in the U.S. and in Japan that researchers investigated and constructed market opportunities from the very beginning and throughout the technological research and flexibly altered the course of research based on their evolving understanding of market opportunities. This approach helps overcome the typical dichotomy of market- (e.g., applied research and demand-pull) and technology-orientation (e.g., basic research and technology-push). Instead of using a portfolio approach to separate resources into two opposing types of research to balance risks, we can encourage researchers to take both market and technological perspective throughout their research.