Distributed R and D. Inside the Black Box

During the last few decades business R and D has changed from beeing an in-house activity to beeing an activty offshored, outsourced or made as joint venture with other other companies or R and D institutions. Gerybadze and Reger has in an article (Recent Changes in the Management of Innovation in Transnational Corporations, Research Policy 28, issue 2-3, pp. 252-274, 1999)stressed the existence of two different trends in R&D locations: 1)An on-going process with setting up R&D laboratories and product development activities in different places in the world, and 2)An even more consistent concentration and refocusing of activities.

In the paper analysis has been made from about 15 Danish R and D intensive companies. In two pharmaceutical companies research activities have been moved to China in one case as offshoring and in another as a joint venture. In one case some clinical tests have been moved to India as an outsourcing.In hearing aid industry nearly nothing in R&D has been moved out from companies.

Something like clinical tests are made in cooperation with hospitals or clinics. In enzymes some R and D activites are offshored. According to informations from companies there are no disasters but in some cases expectations from Danish companies are not identical with what was achieved in the clinical tests.

First of all there were divergent cultural and decision making procedures.