Corporate strategy and the management of innovation and technology

This paper explores the evolution of corporate organization with special attention to the organization of R&D. More specifically, the paper addresses the comparative long-term organizational dynamics of management of innovation and technology in two different types of technology-based industrial companies: the 'related diversifier' pursuing 'synergistic economies' and the 'vertical integrator' pursuing 'vertical economies'. These types of companies are illustrated by case studies of two large Danish manufacturing companies. The analysis aligns the strategic management literature on strategy and structure in large companies with the literature on management of innovation and technology. It is argued that the organizational design for managing innovation and technology is contingent on both the overall strategy--structure profile and dynamics of the companies, and on key characteristics of their particular innovation and technology strategies.