Managing Research, Development, and Innovation: Managing the Unmanageable, Third Edition

Preface

R&D teams in the twenty-first century will work on complex problems that require the input of a variety of disciplines, and often involve collaboration among specialists located on different continents. Add the business dimensions of marketing, finance, design, production, and legal assistance, and the management of research, development, and innovation is clearly demanding. Even in the past, R&D professionals rarely were "managed" the way most people think of management. In fact, when asked, "How do you manage research conducted by the many faculty members and staff in your school?" a dean at Harvard replied, "We don't." He asked, "Have you ever tried to manage prima donnas?"

Managing R&D organizations and focusing on their productivity ...