lnnovation and R&D management:: are new paradigms observable?

The paper reports and discusses the results of a survey on 'New paradigms of Innovation and R&D Management'. The survey was conducted in 1997, with a sample of Italian Industrial and Services Companies, by OMIT (Observatory on Management of Innovation and Technology), a non-profit organisation promoted and supported by several companies and research centres. Specifically the first part of the paper deals with the general results of the whole sample and discusses in particular the following issues: - Externalisation of innovation processes - Centralisation and/or decentralisation of R&D - Integration processes among different units (in and outside the company) - Evaluation mechanisms of individual innovation projects and of the whole company innovation system The second part gives deeper insights into the previous results. The global sample is segmented in a few subgroups (specific companies' 'profiles' according to specific characteristics) whose behaviour is tested in relation with the two most relevant paradigms which emerged from the general results: that of the externalisation of Innovation and that of the organisational autonomy.