Title: Innovation and R&D in the global environment: the case of group Thales

Authors: Ashok Som

Addresses: Management Area, ESSEC Business School, Paris, Avenue Bernard Hirsch – B.P. 105, Cergy-Pontoise, Cedex 95021, France

Abstract: This article builds on a detailed case study dwelling on the theories of innovation to develop, discuss and argue the issues related to the professional electronics and arms industry, a sector rarely discussed and not so well-known. Its primary distinctions from earlier models of organisational innovation lie in: the incorporation of an important-yet realistic-role innovation and R&D in shaping the direction and outcomes of dual-technology; the meta-national nature of the organisation that has its own ethical dilemma due to its multi-domestic strategy and the role of the state in a business that deals in electronics and arms.

Keywords: defence industry; dual technologies; ethical dilemmas; multi-domestic strategy; role of the state; tertiarisation; innovation theories; electronics and arms industry; ethics; R&D; research and development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2009.024179

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2009 Vol.3 No.3, pp.268 - 280

Published online: 28 Mar 2009 *

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