Chap 9 Managing the Research Function

Advanced Organizer

Chapter Objectives  Explain product and technology life cycles  Describe the legal means to protect a person’s ideas  Analyze the nature of creativity

Product Life Cycle  Identification of need (consumer)  Product planning (marketing analysis, feasibility)  Product research  Product design  Production  Product evaluation  Product use & logistic support (consumer)

Technology Life Cycle  Launch (introduction)  Grow  Mature  Substitute/Obsolete

Nature of R&D  Research, is systematic, intensive study directed toward fuller scientific knowledge of the subject studied.  Basic research is... research devoted to achieving a fuller knowledge or understanding of the subject under study...  Applied research is directed toward the practical application of knowledge…  Development is the systematic use of scientific knowledge directed toward the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods, including design and development of prototypes and processes.

New Product Strategies  First-to-market  Follow-the-leader  Me-too  Application engineering

Reasons for Corporate Research to Fail  Not applicable  Not enough patience  Failure in technology transfer

Selecting R&D Projects  60 ideas  12 worthy of preliminary evaluation  6 potential products  3 prototypes  2 products for full production & marketing  1 product with market success

Initial Screening  Checklist  Simple payback time  Net Present Worth  Maximum expenditure justified E mj = F c  F t  P = P commercial success  P tech. success  NPW

Initial Screening  Checklist  Technical factors  Research direction and balance  Timing of R&D and market development  Stability of the potential market  Position factor  Market growth factors for the product  Marketability and compatibility  Producibility  Financial factors  Patentability & need for continuing defensive research

Initial Screening Process  Prepare the Matrix  Criteria  Reference Concept  Weightings  Rate Concepts  Scale (+ – 0) or (1–5)  Compare to Reference Concept or Values  Rank Concepts  Sum Weighted Scores  Combine and Improve  Remove Bad Features  Combine Good Qualities  Select Best Concept  May Be More than One or None  Beware of Average Concepts

Things to Remember  The goal of concept selection is not to Select the best concept  The goal of concept selection is to Develop the best concept So remember to combine and refine the concepts to develop better ones!

Protection of Ideas  Patents  Copyrights  Trade secrets, and  Trademarks and other marks

Patent  An exclusive property right to an invention  Issued by the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, U.S. Department of Commerce  Limited to the "claims" of the patent

Classifications of patents  Utility  Design  Plant

Utility Patent  For a process, machine, article of manufacture, composition of material, or any improvement thereof  For 20 years from date of filing  Cannot be obtained on laws of nature, methods of doing business, scientific principles, or printed matters  Conditions to be patentable, the invention must be  new or novel,  useful or have utility, and  non-obvious

Design Patent  On new, original, and ornamental design of an article of manufacture  For a term of 14 years.  Not concerned with how the article of manufacture was made and how it was constituted, but with how it looks.

Plant Patent  For 20 years  For plants when asexually reproduced,  With the exception of tuber-propagated plants or plants found in the uncultivated state

Establishing patent rights  Conception and  Reduction to practice. In US, if the first to conceive makes a reasonable, diligent effort to reduce the invention to practice, he or she will receive the patent, even if someone else actually reduces it to practice earlier. In almost all other countries, patents are awarded to the first person to file, rather than the first to conceive.

Proof of Conception  A written disclosure of the invention should be made as soon after conception as possible.  A disclosure's primary purpose is to prove the date of conception where there is question of invention.  The disclosure should include sufficient description and sketches to describe fully what has been conceived.  The disclosure should be witnessed by at least two persons who fully understand its content.

Diligence to “reduce to practice” To demonstrate diligence to "reduce to practice," a written record of developmental activities should be maintained in a bound notebook.  Daily entries are encouraged.  Each page should be signed and witnessed in proximity to the entries on that page.  Each entry should be made in chronological order.  Notebook pages should be consecutively numbered, with all entries made in ink.  If an error is made in an entry, it should not be erased: it should be crossed out.  All entries should be made by the inventor in his/her own handwriting.

Top 10 Companies with Patents 1998  IBM 2657  Canon1928  NEC1627  Motorola1406  Sony1316  Samsung1304  Fujitsu1189  Toshiba1170  Kodak1124  Hitachi  IBM 2756  NEC1842  Canon1795  Samsung1545  Sony1410  Toshiba1200  Fujitsu1192  Motorola1192  Lucent1152  Mitsubishi  IBM 2886  NEC2020  Canon1890  Samsung1441  Lucent1411  Sony1385  Micron1304  Toshib1232  Motorol1196  Fujitsu 1147

Country Counts From Calendar Year 2000 Patent File CountryUtilityDesignPlantReissueTotals  U.S  Japan  Germany  Taiwan  France  U. Kingdom  Canada  S. Korea  Italy  Sweden

Trademarks and Other Marks  Trademarks  Service marks  Certification marks  Collective marks

Trademarks  A trademark is "used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify his goods and distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others."  The trademark is protected by federal statutes and registered with the Patent and Trademark Office.  "  " or the notice "Reg. U.S. Pat. and TM Off." should be used with registered trademarks and "  " or "Trademark" with non-registered marks.

Service marks  A service mark is associated with services rather than goods. Certification marks  A certification mark indicates that the marked goods or services meet standards or services established by the mark's owner, for example, Good Housekeeping. Collective marks  A collective mark identifies members of a group such as an organization, union, or association.

Registration of Marks  Starting 11/16/1989, application for mark can be made before any use has taken place.  Most states have their own trademark law, in addition to the federal law.

Copyrights  Copyright is a bundle of rights to reproduce, derive, distribute, perform, & display an original creative work.  A copyright protects expressions, not ideas. A potentially patentable idea expressed in a copyrighted text may be used by others.  A copyright is a grant, by the United States, to an author for the right to exclude others (for a limited time) from reproducing his/her work.  A copyright is owned by the individual author except in the case of a “work for hire”, whereby the employer owns the copyright (17 USC 201a-b)

Types of Copyrights  Literary works  Musical works  Dramatic works  Choreographic works  Pictorial works  Motion Pictures/Videos  Sound Recordings

Copyrights  A copyright generally prevents reproduction of a copyrighted work for the life of the author, plus 70 years.  “Work for hire” copyright lasts for 120 years from the date of creation, or 95 years from first publication.

Copyrights  For works created after 1989, copyright notices are not necessary (although they are recommended).  The copyright notice has three elements: (1) the copyright symbol , the word "copyright," or the abbreviation "copr."; (2) the year of first publication; and (3) the name of the copyright owner.  A copyright notice can appear any place in or on the work as long as it can be readily seen.  Copyright registration is not a condition for protection but is a prerequisite for an infringement suit.  Copyrighted material is registered with the copyright office at the Library of Congress.

Trade Secrets  Trade secrets have no precise definition, but to be protected by the courts, they must be secret, substantial, and valuable.  The secret can be almost anything as long as it is not generally known in the trade or industry to which it applies.  A trade secret provides its owner with a competitive advantage. It may be a formula, process, know-how, specifications, pricing information, customer lists, supply sources, merchandising methods, or other business information. It may or may not be protected by other means.  Trade secrets have no time limitations.

Comparison of Means of Protecting Ideas  Many ideas that are protected as trade secrets cannot be patented.  On the other hand, an item that is patentable can theoretically be protected as a trade secret.  If the idea can be easily discovered through reverse engineering, however, a patent is the only practical choice for protection.

CREATIVITY Nature of Creativity:  Creativity is the ability to produce new and useful ideas through the combination of known principles and components in novel and non- obvious ways.

Models for problem solving:  Trial and error.  Planning/decision-making process (analytical reasoning)  Creative process

Creative process  Preparation.  Structure the problem,  Collect all available information.  Understand relations and effects,  Solve sub-problems, and  Explore all possible solutions and combinations that may lead to a satisfactory solution.  Frustration and incubation (Chili Factor)  Inspiration or illumination  Verification

Brainstorming and Other Techniques for Creativity

Brainstorming  Modern method for "organized ideation"  First employed in the West by Alex Osborne in 1938  The essence of brainstorming is a creative conference, ideally of 8 to 12 people meeting for less than an hour to develop a long list of 50 or more ideas.  Suggestions are listed without criticism, one visible idea leads to others.  At the end of this session participants are asked how the ideas could be combined or improved.  Organizing, weeding, and prioritizing the ideas produced is a separate, subsequent step.

Brainstorming "Tear-down" Approach  Used by two people.  The first person (person A) must disagree with the existing solution to a problem and suggest another approach;  Next, person B must disagree with both ideas and suggest a third;  Then person A must suggest yet another solution  This "cycle continues until a useful idea clicks." "And-also" Method  Person A suggests an improvement on the subject under study; person B agrees, but suggests a further improvement; this sequential improvement "continues until a sound solution is reached."

Group technique by W. J. Gordon  A team explores the underlying concept of the problem.  The method encourages finding unusual approaches by preventing early closure on the problem.  A team of six meeting for about a day on a problem.

Nominal Group Technique Structured Brainstorming  Silent generation  Round robin phase  Clarification  Voting and ranking  Tabulation

"Attribute listing" approach (for individuals)  A person lists attributes of an idea or item,  Then concentrates on one attribute at a time to make improvements in the original idea or item.

"Forced relationship" approach (for individuals)  It tries to generate new ideas by creating a "forced relationship" between two or more usually unrelated ideas or items.

“Mindmapping”  Write the main topic in the center.  Think main factors, ideas, concepts, or components directly related to the main topic.  Concentrate on the sub-headings, and identify related issues. Additional branches can be added.  Repeat for all sub-headings, and sub-sub-headings.  Connect related ideas and concepts. Review, organize, and revise.  Write-up.

Characteristics of Creative People  Self-confidence and independence.  Curiosity.  Approach to problems.  Some personal attributes.  more comfortable with things than people,  have fewer close friends, and are not "joiners."  have broad intellectual interests.  enjoy intellectual games, practical jokes, creative writing, and are almost always attracted by complexity.

Providing a Creative Environment Creative people are most effective in an org. that will  tolerate idiosyncrasies,  remove as much routine regulation and reporting as feasible,  provide support personnel and equipment as required, and  recognize and reward successes.

Creativity and Innovation  Invention (the creative process) produces ideas.  the process of innovation reduced invention to practice and use.

5 kinds of people needed for technological innovation  Idea generator - the creative individual  Entrepreneur - the person who "carries the ball"  Gatekeepers - bring in essential information  Program managers - who manage without inhibiting  Sponsor or Champion - the person, often in senior management, who provides financial and moral support

R&D and Business Strategy Technology strategy should encompass research, product and process development, and manufacturing engineering.  Base Technologies  Key Technologies  Pacing Technologies

Evaluating R&D Effectiveness  Ratio of research costs to profits.  Percentage of total earnings due to new products.  Share of market due to new products  Research costs related to increases in sales.  Research costs ratio of new and old sales.  Research costs per employee.

Evaluating R&D Effectiveness  Ratio of research costs to overhead expenses such as administrative and selling costs.  Cash flows (continuing evaluation of the pattern of outflows for research expense and actual and projected inflows from resulting revenue).  Research audits  Weighted averages of costs and objectives  Project profiles

Support for R&D  Technician support to carry out repetitive testing and other functions not requiring a graduate engineer or scientist.  Shop support of mechanics, glassblowers, and carpenters to produce test and research equipment based on researchers' sketches.  A technical library with technical information specialists conversant in the fields of the company's interest and willing and able to suggest sources to researchers and structure and run searches in the appropriate data bases for them.

Support for R&D  Technical publication support, including typing, editing, and graphical support to simplify researchers' production of reports, technical papers, and presentations.  A flexible, responsive system for approving and acquiring equipment as needed by researchers.  Ample computer facilities conveniently available to researchers, and programming assistance to provide consultation and programming to those researchers not wishing to do it themselves.