The Business of Research

Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-0-521-32282-9
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 600 g

Reihe: Studies in Economic History and Policy: USA in the Twentieth Century

The story of the RCA VideoDisc is a rare inside look at a company and the way it conducts the complex process of science-based innovation. For nearly fifty years the RCA name was synonymous with innovation in the industries it helped to build - radio and television broadcasting and manufacturing, and electronics. This 1986 book presents an absorbing account of how RCA shaped a sophisticated consumer electronics technology in a research and development effort that spanned fifteen years. We see how the company's history, its structure, its technical capability, and its competition all influenced the choices that were made in moving VideoDisc from laboratory to development group to market, and ultimately to withdrawal from the marketplace. Graham's book seeks to examine the nature of science-based innovation as a management problem. It also describes the complex workings of a large corporate R&D organization and the relationship that exists between it and the other components of a major diversified corporation. Above all RCA and the VideoDisc shows that there is nothing innate about the ability to innovate technologically.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Graham, Margaret B. W.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Editors' preface; Preface and acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Selectavision VideoDisc: opportunity and risk; 2. David Sarnoff: industrial entrepreneur; 3. Research as prime mover; 4. Laboratory as entrepreneur: videoplayer research begins; 5. Selectavision Holotape: RCA's professional innovation; 6. Everything ventured; 7. All in the family; 8. VideoDisc in the public eye; 9. RCA's 'Manhattan Project'; 10. On the market; 11. Managing R&D: lessons from RCA; Appendix; Notes; Index.