Classification of R&D organizational structures in relation to strategies

Formal structures of R&D organizations are classified into a number of types in connection with overall corporate organizations and according to corporate strategies. The data encompass 110 Japanese large firms in all of the manufacturing sectors including most R&D-intensive firms. Concepts underlying the types are interpreted in view of corporate innovation strategies including organizational design strategies. The classification and the concepts are expected to provide a common language for discussion in organizational design process. Statistical analyses show that these types are not determined by sectors, firm size, product fields, or other conventional managerial parameters. This finding is interpreted to indicate that R&D organizational structures reflect characteristic strategies of firms, including organizational design strategies which are not reduced to conventional materialistic factors of management