Efficiency of Product R&D in Business Units: The Role of Strategic Context

Abstract

This paper examines several contextual variables that are thought to affect the relationship between a firm's innovative inputs and outputs. Six-year patterns for a sample of mature industrial-product business units drawn from the PIMS data base indicate evidence that innovative efficiency is related to all four classes of variables examined: technological opportunity, scale and R&D experience of the business, market linkages, and manufacturing suitability.