Industrial Research and Innovation in Business (review)

Industrial research remains an important topic for historians, economists, and sociologists of knowledge. David Edgerton brings together a wide range of articles from various disciplines on this topic, focusing especially on the role of the business firm in technological innovation. All the articles appeared elsewhere, in journals or other collections. These are facsimile reproductions, so they are not always easy on the eyes. The value of this volume is to provide a single reference source for materials not readily available to scholars working in their own specialized fields.

Although this compilation contains only a brief introduction and no bibliographic essay, most of the articles have their own references. The organizing theme is Schumpeterian: To what extent has scientific research in the modern economy been routinized under the direction of corporate managerial structures? This volume focuses on business-led innovation, so it is not surprising to find that most of the authors see the business firm as a leader in innovation. But several essays address cases of failure or of technology led more by ideology or corporate interest than the quest for improvement and efficiency. The general consensus of scholars seems to be that corporate R&D is extremely important, more extensive than generally understood, and especially crucial to the competitive success of firms and nations. Yet it is difficult to get comparable figures on research in different places at different times. “National innovation systems” can vary substantially in how they operate, as the several comparative studies included show. Most economists and policy makers emphasize technology’s crucial importance to modern economic growth. Consequently, even die-hard capitalist economies have supplemented private research activities with public ones, or they have supported and subsidized corporate efforts. In all, the doleful Schumpeterian prediction of routinized innovation seems not to have been fulfilled. Creative research remains a difficult task, and cutting-edge innovations are elusive even for the most committed corporate R&D departments.

Even in nearly seven hundred pages, the editor had no small task in capturing the wide range of issues, case studies, and theoretical perspectives that constitute the field of “research” research. The collection begins with two essays of the evolutionary theories of innovation and economic change. Next follow case studies of industries, such as chemical and electrical equipment, comparative essays on research in different nations, a section on the perennial question of England’s backwardness, and a concluding section on Japanese industrial research. The largest section covers the U.S. corporate research laboratories. Some selections may strike readers as odd. For example, do we really need four essays on the German chemicals industry? The debate about British economic performance remains lively, but two rather than three essays would have sufficed. One weakness, given the focus on business and innovation, is a shallow treatment of the relationship between firm size and inventiveness. Jacob Schmookler’s 1965 testimony before a U.S. Senate antitrust committee does not quite fill this gap. F. M. Scherer’s work is sorely missed here.

Otherwise, most of the major figures and classic articles are included. There are selections by John Beer, David Hounshell, Richard Nelson, Christopher Freeman, Leonard Reich, Walter Vincenti, David Noble, and David Mowery. The collection is probably not a good way to introduce students to the topic of industrial research. It will, however, be useful to those who already know something about the topic and want to expand their knowledge.