How R&D management practice affects innovation performance

Abstract

PurposeThis paper seeks to identify the variables that affect the innovation performance of R&D teams, and to investigate the interactions between these variables.Design/methodology/approachA research framework is first established through a literature review, and is then adjusted according to case studies of five high‐tech companies in Taiwan. The adjusted model is then tested through a survey of high‐tech companies in Taiwan.FindingsIt is concluded that the style of the upper management team and the leadership of the R&D manager are the main forces that determine R&D management practice, but that the educational background, work experience, and expertise of R&D managers do not distinguish the level of discipline or the sophistication of R&D management practice. Some aspects of R&D management practice, for example, the generation and utilization of technical reports and the cultivation of professional knowledge, can be reinforced by office support and alliance. With adequate resource support, more sophisticated R&D management practice does lead to better innovation performance as measured by the number of new products, patents, and technical reports.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are derived only from the high‐tech industry in Taiwan. This regional limitation is inevitable in a single study. In the future, more regions can be investigated and compared.Practical implicationsR&D management practice links closely to innovation performance. Disciplined and sophisticated practice improves innovation performance in many ways under different contingencies.Originality/valueR&D management practice was never a focus of study. This paper approaches the topic of innovation performance from this perspective and confirms its importance in many ways.

Employee satisfaction, intrapreneurship and firm growth: a model

“…an important role in innovation performance (Huang and Lin, 2006). Giving employees work discretion, rewards, time availability, training, trust, loose intra-organizational boundaries, and management support, commitment and involvement may be considered vital characteristics of organizational support conducive to intrapreneurship (MacMillan, 1986;Hornsby et al, 1990;Stevenson and Jarillo, 1990;Merrifield, 1993).…”

The mediating effect of the innovation process on the relationships among innovation components: an empirical study on Turkish companies

“…They examine the sequential relationships from innovation resources to innovation outcomes without taking the mediation effect of the innovation process into consideration. At the same time, the relationship between R&D management practice that stimulates R&D activities and innovation performance is investigated by Huang and Lin (2006). They consider that the resource support, such as the R&D budget, equipment support, and R&D facilities, affects the path from the R&D activities to the innovation output and the relationship between the R&D management practice and the innovation performance (Huang and Lin, 2006).…”

“…At the same time, the degree of novelty is another issue in innovation output measurement and only one of many factors contributing to marketability. More tangible measures of commercialisation can be preferred to the degree of novelty, because it is difficult to evaluate novelty alone (Huang and Lin, 2006).…”

“…Innovation outcomes are the result of having successfully managed innovation process activities (Saunila and Ukko, 2012). In another study the relationship between R&D management practice that accumulates R&D activities and innovation performance is investigated (Huang and Lin, 2006). Innovative capability, which contains the organisational culture and characteristics of internal processes, is the most productive factor of innovation success (Akman and Yilmaz, 2008).…”

“…Many studies also consider that the inputs and output measurements are the most important elements when evaluating the innovation performance. The input measures are considered as R&D expenditures, labour, and technologies, while the output indicators can be summarised as the number of new patents, number of cited new patents, number of new products, and number of successful new products (Huang and Lin, 2006). In this study the literature was thoroughly reviewed to identify adequate measurements for the innovation components.…”