Review

Reviewed Work(s): The Lever of Riches by Joel Mokyr

Source: Research Technology Management , May–June 1991, Vol. 34, No. 3 (May–June
1991), p. 52
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

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 1930s. Today, the spirit of communion
between general manager and R&D
explanations for why some economies
manager that existed in the 1930s and
were creative and others uncreative,
the war years no longer comes
and applies them to: classical society
naturally. Now it must be managed."
n versus the medieval West, China versus
The authors maintain that while there post-1400 Europe, and the Industrial
Revolution and the eventual decline of
is no single "best" way to superior
R&D, there are guiding principles ofBritain as a technological leader. He
universal value. "If applied by argues that the complementarity of
invention and innovation is one of the
management with intelligence,
NEW BOOKS AND REPORTS reasons so few societies have been
sensitivity, determination, and
perseverance, they will lead to technologically creative.
Third Generation R&D: superior returns from R&D In the concluding portion of the book,
investments."
Managing the Link to Mokyr examines the dynamics of
Corporate Strategy; technological change, asking whether it
The guiding principles of
Philip A Roussel, Kamal N. Saad, occurs in leaps and bounds or
third-generation R&D are introduced
and Tamara J. Erickson; gradually and continuously. He sets up
through the experience of the
Harvard Business School Press, an analogy between technological
Intercontinental Company, a composite
Boston, MA; progress and biological evolution in
company, fictitious but constructed
212 pp., $2995. order to answer the question. One
from real-life experience, whose new
Three senior consultants from Arthur CEO does not have a technical conclusion: Today's prosperity "stems
from accidental factors to a degree
D. Little outline a pragmatic methodbackground but senses the need for
greater than is commonly supposed.
for linking R&D to long-term business radical change in the role of his R&D
Moreover, technological progress is
planning, thus making it a strategic organization. The authors describe the
like a fragile and vulnerable plant,
competitive weapon. Describing experience of the CEO and his senior
whose flourishing is not only
second-generation R&D as largely managers in adapting the principles to
dependent on the appropriate
oriented toward discrete projects, they Intercontinental's needs, the processes
surroundings and climate, but whose
contrast it with the third-generationthey adopted, and the vicissitudes they
life is always short."
management they find some companies encountered in applying them. They
beginning to adopt: follow this account with discussions of
Bringing New Products to Market;
human and operational effectiveness in
"In third generation R&D, general John A Hall;
the prosecution of R&D, and conclude
managers and R&D managers work as with a review of the state of Amacom Books, New York, NY;
partners to share and pool their 192 pp., $21.95.
Intercontinental two years after
insights in deciding what to do, why,
beginning the move to third-generation How can managers make sure their
and when. In so doing, they take R&D.
account of the needs of each business own products become winners in the
marketplace? To consultant Hall, "there
and of the corporation. They
The Lever of Riches; ain't no one magic formula." Instead,
realistically assess costs, benefits, and he focuses on the differences in
risk/reward, and they balance these Joel Mokyr,
product planning in various sizes and
variables within a portfolio of R&D Oxford University Press, New York, NY;
349 pp., t.24.95. types of companies, and offers advice
activity that best fulfills the purposes of
to the entrepreneur and the growing
the corporation as a whole. This book examines technological company as well as the large
"Third generation management is not creativity
a as it has proven to be a corporation. From 36 "mini-case
mechanical model that allows major contributor to economic histories" he derives 12 critical success
managers to plug in variables and progress. The author, a professor of factors, including "consistent funding
come up with decisions. Rather, it economics
is a and history at Northwestern
support in good times and lean times."
conceptual model that fosters the University, observes that while someThe 36 short case histories include
invention has come from the R&D such winners as the automated teller
creation of productive working
relationships and shared insights that laboratory, "much of the technological machine, Cabbage Patch Kids, Gould's
allow competent managers from R&D creativity that made our economic centrifugal process pumps, and
and from the rest of the company world to what it is came from different
Pampers, and such "losers" as
sources."
make the best judgments about what Boil-in-the-Bag Indian Foods Company,
R&D [has] to do and not do, now and and New Coke.
Mokyr begins his attempt to describe
in the medium- and longer-term future
and explain this creativity by tracing
in a particular corporate environment." The Internationalization of U.S.
the major inventions and innovations
Manufacturing: Causes
While noting that third-generation that have transformed society since
management is not intrinsically new, Greece and Rome. A basic premise is
and Consequences;
National Academy Press, 2101
I
having its roots in the industrial R&D that technologically creative societies
Constitution Ave., N. W., Washington,
I
of the 1930s, the authors assert that must be both inventive and innovative:
the difference "is discernible not in the "Without invention, innovation will
DC 20418.
o
I
attitudes or activities of the R&D eventually slow down and grind to a This report by the National Research
manager but in the environment in halt, and the stationary state will Council's Manufacturing Studies Board
which he or she operates." In today's obtain. Without innovation, inventors attempts to "dispel misconceptions

1
larger and more complex global will lack focus and have little regarding the drivers of
company, "balancing the variables is far economic incentive to pursue new internationalization and, therefore, to ?"
52 more difficult now than it was in the improve understanding of both the
$
ideas." Mokyr provides a series of

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