Abstract
This paper addresses a new method to analyze R&D management. Ink jet patents^# filed by Canon and Seiko Epson from 1976 to 2005 have been investigated to draw their dynamic changes of the flumber of inventors (DCNI) avoiding duplication in each year. We first confirm that "1/p" inventors, newly proposed in this study, generate some gap between the number of inventors and that of actual researchers. Second, we indicate that marked segments of the DCNI can be rationally related to major R&D activities described in existing documents both in the two companies during the corresponding periods. Third, we quantitatively characterize the differences of their R&D resource management by line slopes calculated using a linear approximation to the DCNI segments, and suggest that their technology selection (TIJ or PIJ) has an influence on their management differences. (^#: Japanese unexamined patent application publication)
