Title: Determinants of organisational R&D persistence: a case of semiconductor laser diodes in the USA and Japan

Authors: Sam Kurokawa, Watchara Tong-Ngok, Hajime Yamada

Addresses: College of Business, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. School of Engineering, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. Center for Global Communications, International University of Japan, Tokyo 106-0032, Japan

Abstract: This paper examines the factors affecting organisational R&D persistence from 1966 to 1998 in the field of semiconductor laser diodes. We constructed several hypotheses based on the relevant literature and tested these hypotheses with 922 US and 366 Japanese organisations (firms, universities and government labs), by using their published papers and patents. We found: (1) the more papers and patents an organisation has, the more likely it is to persist; (2) universities are more persistent than other organisations; (3) sales expectation contributes significantly to corporate R&D persistence; (4) Japanese firms are more likely to persist than US firms; and (5) US government labs are more likely to persist than Japanese government labs. By our interviews and further quantitative analyses, we also found that the technology diffusion in Japan seemed to be more pervasive than that in the USA.

Keywords: technology forecasting; technology diffusion; technology policy; R&D management; persistence; R&D community; semiconductor laser diodes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2002.003039

International Journal of Technology Management, 2002 Vol.23 No.7/8, pp.813-835

Published online: 10 Jul 2003 *

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