Fourth-generation R&D

Author: Miller Morris Guan Shansong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: This book provides a thorough and insightful analysis of the architecture for innovation in the knowledge economy. Technical experts, strategists, and organizational designers will find it worthwhile to read, as will students in modern organizations. —John Seely Brown, Chief Scientist, Xerox Corporation
The new competitive environment demands new approaches to innovation and R&D. This book addresses this challenge. Through clear discussions and detailed case studies, it outlines a powerful model for planning and managing innovation. Every manager concerned with innovation and its role as a strategic resource will benefit from this fresh understanding. —Lawrence Wilkinson, President, Global Business Network
"The Fourth Generation of R&D" is a masterpiece. Its arguments are profound, and its charts are exceptionally well-designed. It fundamentally explains the differences between continuous and discontinuous innovation, as well as the distinctions between tacit and explicit knowledge. —John Yochelson, President, Competition Committee
This book introduces the evolution of R&D (Research and Development) and elaborates on the definition and significant practical implications of the fourth generation of R&D. The authors present key issues related to the fourth generation of R&D in a clear and well-structured prose style, covering topics such as how to grasp strategy, the linkage between innovation and R&D, why traditional market research is insufficient and how to make it sufficient, how to leverage networks in the innovation process, the critical differences between tacit and explicit knowledge and how to combine them for effective knowledge management, the importance of new organizational models for success, the distinctions between continuous and discontinuous innovation, and how to make your organization effective in both areas. The book does not provide definitive answers to these questions but offers rich, interconnected, and logically rigorous examples and arguments, allowing readers to derive their own answers from them.
The book includes nearly 100 charts and uses a fluent writing style to present the arguments in an accessible and progressive manner, giving readers a vivid and intuitive understanding of the authors' perspectives. After reading this book, readers are likely to gain a fresh perspective on their own thinking patterns. Fundamentally, this is a highly specialized and targeted book, designed specifically for professionals engaged in R&D, corporate strategy management, and product development design. For Chinese entrepreneurs who are undergoing critical periods of reform and development, it is an invaluable strategic reference.