Abstract
The purpose of the Research Behavior and Research Organization Group is to discuss practical problems for R&D managers from such viewpoints as strategy evaluation, organization rejuvenation, and product development. The increasingly severe competition is reflected in the polarization of corporate performance. This means severer responsibility of top managements, including that for R&D outcomes. Such situations have raised interest in more exact quantitative evaluation of intellectual assets which will permit better understanding of innovation mechanisms and improve accountability toward shareholders. The four reports cited describe, among others, how the serendipity of researchers comes closer to reality by collaboration of the R&D and marketing sector, instead of simplistic reliance on product performance, as well as by communication of researchers who have original ideas with the general public; how flexible exploitation of intellectual properties to grab opportunities ensures superiority in the market; and how important multidisciplinary collaboration and synthesis will be in R&D activities. Excellent companies always have a mechanism to realize novel products, and the capability of establishing such a mechanism is the essential source of its strength. The Group will continue to study such mechanisms in innovative organizations.
