A systemic perspective of RD and innovation 'functions'

摘要

The intent of this paper is to study proposed-functional R&D-innovation concepts and be able to scrutinize them from a systemic perspective using Beer's Viable Systems Model (or VSM). It is suggested that R&D management research domains can be mapped to VSM's productive, operational, coordination, tactical, and identity elements. By framing these notional R&D functions under these different VSM elements, the over-all organization, interactions, structure and relationships can be better anticipated and understood. An implication of this approach would be to minimize the gap between R&D management system-as-designed and system-as-performed. For this purpose, a systemic approach is used. This approach utilizes four key steps namely ⅰ) problem framing/ domain definition, ⅱ) context definition, ⅲ) methodology selection and design, and ⅳ) executing the analytic strategy.