Maximizing the returns from research

Companies need to match their research activities to the industry situation. Moreover, they can only successfully commercialize a new technology if they control all of the activities with which that technology interacts. Attempting to do otherwise is likely to end in frustration. After a technology is "good enough" for the marketplace, the necessary locus of integration shifts backwards. In these circumstances, companies ought to focus their research activities on individual pieces that add value. Those companies that continue to integrate their research activities across the entire value chain face the possibility of research "leaking" to specialist companies. In short, companies should not employ a one-size-fits-all-forever strategy for capturing value across the life cycles of their technologies. Rather, the right strategy will depend on finding the decoupling point, for each technology, at each point in time.