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The core of any manufacturing company is formed by production, marketing and research and development (R&D). In the future production and R&D need to integrate their efforts to solve problems more quickly and to generate more effective plant designs. For production/R&D links the most important new technologies are the use of computers and their intercommunication. Computer Aided Design (CAD) and its extensions are probably the most important, but others such as expert systems and modelling will play a part. The key factor is the creation of common data bases holding as much relevant information as is practical. These will only be useful if production and R&D analyse purposes, methodologies and data storage and usage together.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the discussions on globalisation from production to R&D. It investigates how R&D and production interact with each other in their globalisation processes.

The research aim is developed by identifying the gaps in the reviewed literature. This paper is based on four case studies undertaken in one Chinese manufacturing, one Danish pharmaceutical and two Danish manufacturing companies. The cases provide a sound basis for developing an understanding of the interaction between the globalisation of R&D and production.

This paper identifies three approaches the case companies followed to globalise their production and R&D: interactive globalisation, separated globalisation and a possible combination. The paper indicates that research and development might have to be treated separately with regard to their globalisation, and proposes industry and country characteristics as the key factors for globalisation approach selection, and site capability and strategic decision as the impacting factors for globalisation evolution.

This paper emphasises the dispersion of R&D activities, which is seldom addressed by existing internationalisation theories. Its investigation provides a foundation for the further extension of current internationalisation theories to consider global R&D. Moreover, the theoretical gap in the existing literature between global R&D and production is noted. This paper bridges this gap by clarifying the interaction between R&D and production in their globalisation, conceptualising three globalisation approaches, and proposing tentative factors that have impacts on approach selection and management.

Research and development (R&D) plays a significant role in creating and sustaining technological leadership. This paper aims to look at the extent to which R&D interventions stimulate innovation engagement.

This paper examines, in the main, secondary data sources from Honda to assess the extent to which R&D‐enabled plants enjoy both enhanced innovatory potential and employee engagement.

Initial indications point to a positive correlation between R&D and associated plant performance. Ongoing research suggests that there is a clear link between interventions and enhanced employee engagement. In addition, there appears to be evidence that monoculture outperform multicultural establishments.

The research was exploratory in nature and relied, in the main, on secondary data sources. However, access to the secondary sources was extensive which hopefully compensates for the limited primary data.

Practitioners and academics interested in the relationship between engagement, value add knowledge transfer, R&D and innovation should find this paper of interest.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss obstacles to innovation, by using organisational learning and knowledge management theory. The logic behind this purpose is that understanding obstacles enhances our understanding of what may drive innovation.

While organisational learning and knowledge management tend to focus on cognitive factors this paper focuses on contextual factors such as organisational structure and institutional factors. The method applied follows the case study approach, where a theoretic frame of reference is studied in a one case setting and findings are generalised by means of so‐called analytical generalisation. A total of 86 managers and employees were interviewed in one large multinational corporation within the paper packaging sector, to unveil their experience from specific attempts at being innovative and from the general climate of innovation within the company.

The empirical findings support that understanding the significance of the organisational context, particularly the structure and control of the line organisation, the interface between the line and the R&D organisation, the availability of slack resources, and the presence of an effective capital application procedure, is important. They also suggest that institutional forces at the market, corporation and individual level are interdependent and impact the propensity to innovate. Findings indicate that understanding innovation requires understanding the roles of institutional forces and organisational context – not just cognitive explanations.

In that respect, the originality of the paper lies in its addressing these factors not just as prerequisites to cognitive issues but as parallel explanatory factors behind innovation.

Six professions allied to medicine (PAMs) participated in a one‐year project designed to provide a novel self‐sustaining framework within which to increase research and development effectiveness in the Northern and Yorkshire region. The project was based on recognition that the multiplicity and diversity of professional structures and lack of representation of clinical PAMs were obstacles to effective governance. All 37 clinical NHS trusts within the Region took part. The professions selected to participate were chiropody and podiatry, dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and therapeutic radiography. A planned process of consultation and consensus was used involving Trust representatives, development workers and advisory group. A PAMs R&D network and forum were achieved and operate at three levels: Trust; locality; and region. Access to existing structures is facilitated at each level and the Forum offers a reliable and rapid route for transfer of information, engagement with R&D and consultation with policy initiatives.

This chapter provides a selective survey of the theoretical and empirical literature to date on the relationship between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and measures of innovation and international technology transfer. The chapter discusses the empirical implications of theoretical work, assesses the theoretical work based on the evidence available, and identifies some gaps in the existing literature.

Presents the results of an empirical study of the activities of US multinationals manufacturing in Scotland. Provides an examination of the aspects of strategies for market entry and development. Concentrates specifically on market planning issues, providing data illustrating some of the problems faced by US multinationals.

This paper aims to reconceptualize the relationship between organizational learning and bureaucracy. Although the two are generally considered to be antithetical, this paper shows that, in some organizations, bureaucracy can be functional for organizational learning.

The central argument is theoretical and builds on two main ideas: firstly, the nature of knowledge creation and organizational learning is conditioned by the organization’s main technological characteristics; and secondly, bureaucracy has a dual nature as an instrument of managerial control and as a vehicle of large-scale collaboration. This study uses examples from process industries as empirical illustrations.

As products and production systems come to embody deeper and more diverse knowledge, their development takes on an increasingly collaborative character. The need to integrate differentiated knowledge and material artefacts calls for specialization, formalization, centralization and staff roles. Hence, technological complexity drives a bureaucratization of organizational learning.

The core argument is developed with reference to industries where organizational learning involves the accumulation of knowledge, not its periodic replacement associated with technological shifts. Its relevance outside these industries remains to be assessed.

Organizations, whose knowledge creation fits the pattern of creative accumulation, should learn to harness formal structures for large-scale collaboration.

The main thesis runs counter to mainstream perspectives on organizational learning. This paper explores organizational learning in sectors that have received little attention in debates about organizational learning.

This paper investigates whether tax incentives can effectively promote capital investment and research spending simultaneously. Tax history provides the experimental setting to compare the influences of these tax initiatives. Analysis shows that firms respond to the research tax incentives by increasing R&D spending but do not significantly react to the policies promoting greater capital investment. More importantly, the results indicate that the tax incentives are negatively related to other types of investment with reduced R&D spending in the presence of incentives for capital investment and capital expenditures decreasing when research is encouraged by tax policy.