About this issue

The three technical papers in this issue vary widely in their focus, indicating the broad range of subjects related to the R&D/Innovation process with which this Transactions is concerned. Allen et al deal with issues on which we have published many articles — information flows in R&D. Much of the rhetorical literature in this field misses a point that these authors make — that the amount of information required by different component functions of R&D varies widely due to a number of factors in the situation. This may seem an obvious point to many managers, but is often overlooked in the general pleas for “more information” or “more communication.” There is a small body of research, mainly contributed by experimental psychologists, on the effects of “information overload” on performance and other behavior. Although this subject has been touched on in speculative articles, it still requires a good deal of systematic investigation in operating R&D organizations. Too much information or too frequent communication can impose not only a handling burden on potential recipients or targets in terms of their time and capabilities of dealing with it, but may also, unintentionally, deflect them from paths they are following in their technical work. One manifestation of this problem area is the issue of whether and how much financial and marketing information should be made available to or forced on people at the technical level. We would welcome comments on this subject in the form of “Technical/Management Notes” which we publish in addition to our regular technical articles.