TOWARDS THE INTEGRATED RD NETWORK - NEW ASPECTS OF ORGANIZING INTERNATIONAL RD

摘要

The globalization of markets, the regionalization of technical and scientific expertise in addition to discontinuities in technology development are forcing technology-intensive companies to continuously adapt their R&D organizations. R&D in multinational companies (MNC) is organized in five different forms: ethnocentric centralized, geocentric centralized, polycentric decentralized, in a hub structure, or as an integrated network. Each form is characterized by its behavioral orientation and exhibits a number of strengths and weaknesses. Five trends of organizational change among these forms of international R&D organizations can be identified: 1) stronger orientation of R&D activities towards international markets and knowledge centers, 2) establishment of tightly coordinated listening posts, 3) strengthening and reinforcement of foreign R&D sites, 4) increased integration of decentralized R&D units and 5) tighter coordination and recentralization of R&D activities on fewer know-how centers to increase global efficiency. Organizations typically evolve from an ethnocentric centralized configuration towards an integrated R&D network, taking on several intermediary organizational alternatives. This process calls for a stepwise adaptation of a company's structure and behavioral orientation to the competitive environment. In contrast to success stories of process redesign, quantum leaps are next to impossible when dealing with organizational and behavioral changes.