Richard Reeves
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A practitioner's recommended papers

Leslie Falkingham
was formerly Technology Director for the ALSTOM T&D Medium Voltage Business. While an R&D manager he studied management of R&D at the section level for his PhD under my supervision. As part of his PhD research with this Centre he read over 600 journal papers on R&D management. A number of these were considered well worth reading. It is more difficult to obtain copies of papers than books, but they can normally be obtained via a library service. Also nowadays it is worth searching for the author or paper title on Google.
Leslie is now the manager of his own company, Vaccuum Interrupters Ltd, and also consults and teaches on the management of R&D.


See also A Practitioner's Recommended Books


Ball D. F., (1997), R&D Professionals in their First and Second Managerial Appointments, Proceedings of the 1997 R&D Management Conference, "Managing R&D into the 21st Century", Vol. 2, paper 4. An interesting look at the reality of R&D in the UK.

Bart C.K., (1993), Controlling New Product R&D Projects, R&D Management, 23(2) A good approach to R&D project control.

Barpal I.R., (1990), Business Driven Technology for a Technology-Based Firm, Research Technology Management 33(4). Focusing technology strategy on the company needs.


Brenner M. S., (1994), Practical R&D Project Prioritisation, Research Technology Management, 37(5). A "how to" guide to prioritisation.

Busby J.S. & Payne K.H., (1998), Why engineers don't always learn good planning practices, Engineering Management Journal, August 1998. Excellent paper on why it just is not as easy as it looks.

Cooper R.G., (1985), Selecting Winning New Product Projects: Using the NewProd System, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 2. Introduction to the Stage Gate system of R&D project planning.

Coppendale J., (1995), Manage Risk in Product and Process Development and Avoid Unpleasant Surprises. Engineering Management Journal, 5(1). Interesting approach to risk management in Product development. Fairtlough G., (1992), Three Misconceptions about Innovation, Technology Analysis and Strategic Management. 4(1). A good review of misconceptions about the innovation process.

Falkingham L.T., Reeves R., (2001), The four schools of thought in R&D management and the relationship of the literature to practitioners' needs, Research Technology Management June. A look at why most of the literature is nor really relevant to practitioners.

Fayol H., (1949),General and Industrial Management, translated into English by Storrs C., published by Pitman. Fayol originally published his work as "Administration Industrielle et Générale - Prévoyance, Organisation, Commandement, Coordination, Contrôle." in the Bulletin de la Société de l'Industrie Minerale in 1916. Classic work on the command and control system of management. Many people will recognise this as their company environment.

Friar J., Horwich M., (1989, p215), The Emergence of Technology Strategy - a New Dimension of Strategic Management, R&D Management, 19, 1989. Introduction to the concept of Technology Strategy. Friedman P., (1993), Cognitive and Interpersonal Abilities Related to the Primary Activities of R&D Managers, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management 9(3). Unusual approach to project success focusing on people issues.

Fusfeld H. I., (1995), Industrial Research - Where it's Been, Where It's Going, Guide, Research Technology Management 38(4). Review of the industrial research process.

Hart S. L., (1991), Intentionality and autonomy in strategy-making process: Models, archetypes and firm performance, Advances in Strategic Management, 7, p97-127. Introduction to the strategy formulation process.

Hickson D.J., (1987), Decision making at the top of the organisation, Annual Review of Sociology, 13, p187. Important view of the corporate decision making process. Applies strongly to R&D decisions.

Inkpen A., Choudhury N., (1995), The seeking of strategy where it is not: toward a theory of strategy absence., Strategic Management Journal, 16, p313-323. Many R&D managers will relate to this. Keller R.T., (1994), Technology - Information Processing Fit and The Performance of R&D Project Groups: A test of Contingency Theory, Academy of Management Journal 37(1). Academic approach to R&D evaluation.

Kohler E. et al, (1987), Organisational Design for Effective Product Innovation, Irish Marketing Review 2. Practical approach to developing an innovative organisation.

Mayer M. H., Utterback J.M., (1993), The Product Family and the Dynamics of Core Capability, Sloan Management Review, Spring 1993, p29-47. The relationship of Product families and core capabilities. Mintzberg, H., (1978), Patterns of Strategy Formation, Management Science, 24(9), Basic guide to strategy formulation.

Mitchell G. R., Hamilton W. F., (1988), Managing R&D as a Strategic Option, Research Technology Management, 31 (3) p15-22. Introduction to the concept of R&D as a key corporate strategy.

Pelled L.H. et al, (1994), Antecedents of Intergroup Conflict in Multifunctional Product Development Teams: A Conceptual Model, IEEE Transactions, 41(1). Academic look at conflict in product development teams.

Ransley D. L. et al, (1994), A Consensus on Best R&D Practices, Research Technology Management 37(2). Good guide to R&D best practise. Reick R.M., Dickson K.E., (1993), A Model of Technology Strategy, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 5(4). As it says, it presents a model of technology strategy.

Saleh S.D. et al, (1991), Management of innovation in large established companies, Technology Management Proceedings, A look at large corporate innovation management. Shenhar A., (1993). From Low- to High-Tech Project Management, R&D Management 23(3), A look at different approaches to project management.

Udayagiri N.D., (1991), Knowledge Spillover and Absorption Capacity: a Model of Technological Learning, Technology Management Proceedings. Interesting look at how the organisation uses the development of new knowledge.

Zurn J. T., (1991), Problem Discovery Function; A useful Tool for Assessing New Product Introduction, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 38(2), A systematic approach to avoiding pitfalls in new product introduction.