Lois S. Peters’s research while affiliated with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and other places

A survey of participants in the nanotechnology industry has been conducted to identify the most commonly employed practices in the sources of information used in new product and process technology planning. The frequency of use of each source of information is measured for both short-term and long-term time frames to commercialization. Responses to the current survey are compared with those from an earlier survey of the upstream environment of the electronics industry, with similarities and differences analyzed and discussed.

Innovations in chemistry and biology have generated multiple products and built significant revenue streams in the pharmaceutical industry. However, the complex and multi-disciplinary process of drug discovery and drug development makes it difficult to identify specific core competencies within a company. There is a need to better identify and manage sources of innovation that lead to new markets as ever-increasing investments in R&D have recently been accompanied by mediocre success in new product introduction. Additionally, outsourcing of clinical research and even early-stage discovery research continues to increase, creating a need to better define core competencies for strategic management decisions in pharmaceutical innovation In this context, we investigated the possible role that biostatistics -a key competence-could play in innovation in the drug development process. A sampling of case interviews from biostatisticians and executives in the pharma industry indicate that biostatisticians do contribute to innovation in the drug development process. Data gathered from contract research companies in the pharma industry suggests that outsourcing practices in the pharmaceutical industry increasingly include the outsourcing of biostatistics capabilities. We conclude that pharmaceutical companies should consider directing their management and outsourcing practices to retain and gain novel innovation through biostatistics.

Radical innovation programs designed for commercializing emerging technologies are compared to emerging technology startup firms in terms of the research work, risk, uncertainty and acquisition of resources and capabilities. Current literature shows that companies with potentially disruptive technologies are focusing initially on simple applications in industries with short product development cycles. A continuing question is how initial resources and resource acquisition strategies associated with disruptive technology commercialization are translated to positions of sustainable competitive advantage. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, transaction costs theory and the dynamic organization capability perspective; we characterize the chief resources being used by large firms and startups. We further analyze the ways in which these resources are acquired and categorize them under four distinct groups: internal and external resources, internal and external collaboration. The study shows how the risk, uncertainty, and flexibility associated with each of these resource groups affects the product development cycles. A comparative analysis is then undertaken to understand the role of the "acquisition of resources" process in commercialization of emerging technologies. The paper compares small and large firms in three "hot" areas of emerging technologies, biotechnology, photonics and nanotechnology. Drawing on this examination and a review of the literature we offer a schematic of how large and small firms differ in their approaches to commercialization of emerging technologies. Based on several propositions derived from our investigation, we provide conjectures about what large and startup firms can learn from each other regarding commercializing emerging technologies.

This paper explores growing public and organizational interest in commercialization of products based on revolutionary technologies such as nanotechnology and biotechnology. International knowledge dynamics and organizational participation is analyzed. The analysis concludes that learning has occurred and that at least with respect to nanotechnology we begin to see the reality of global integration

This exploratory paper investigates the infrastructure for life-science-based new product development. The practice of biostatistics has long been seen as a crucial element of the regulatory process for approving the release of new drugs and medical devices, but the authors hypothesize that it serves a larger role in the new product development process in pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms. To this end, they focus on the management of Biostatistics and related know how such as data mining in the discovery, testing, and commercialization of new products. Their results are drawn from a number of in-depth case studies of biostatistical practices in a variety of firms engaged in life-science product development. The findings point to the importance of biostatistics in providing both technical and strategic information. To the extent that Biostatistics is managed as a learning system, it is critical for building core capability and enabling resource configurations that create value

Firms are typically viewed as seeking alliances to achieve certain outcomes, advantages they perceive will result from these relationships. Our research investigates whether certain inputs, specifically knowledge, can explain differential alliance formation. Our empirical analysis of 67 new computer and telecommunications firms reveals that firms with more extensive technology-based and product-based knowledge are more likely to form alliances at a higher rate than those with less extensive knowledge. The implications for these findings are that alliances are more attractive to firms with a foundation of knowledge that can be leveraged, and firms with this knowledge have something of value to attract alliance partners.

form only given. This exploratory paper investigates the infrastructure for life-science-based new product development. The practice of biostatistics has long been seen as a crucial element of the regulatory process for approving the release of new drugs and medical devices, but we hypothesize that it serves a larger role in the new product development process in pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms. We focus on the role of biostatistical-related disciplines to help us understand how the management of these technologies and practices feature in building firm competitiveness, by employing multiple case studies and analysis of secondary data

Discontinuous, or radical, innovation has been regarded as a critical factor in renewing firms' competitive position. The results of the Rensselaer Radical Innovation Project (RRIP) show that the development of new businesses and product lines based on discontinuous innovations requires distinct inter-firm knowledge management practices. Knowledge management studies suggest that inter-firm collaborative networks, such as strategic alliances, enhance corporate innovative capability by facilitating flow of knowledge across companies. Due to the increasing significance of inter-firm collaborative networks, there is a need for further understanding of knowledge management at the inter-firm level. By reviewing the literature on knowledge management practices, this article suggests that knowledge management practices vary from one organisation to another. The variety of corporate knowledge management practices attribute to distinct organisational settings, and technology domains in the context of technology and new product development. The authors propose that the different types of inter-firm collaborative networks are established to fulfil specific knowledge management requirements for divergent technology and new product development in discontinuous innovation.

The present article reports an empirical investigation of the effects of justice (or fairness) and trust on the importance of technology in organizations. Results showed that perceptions of procedural justice positively predicted the perceived importance of a technology supportive environment, the importance of technology as a performance enabler, and trust. Trust, however, positively predicted the dimension, technology supportive environment but not the dimension, importance of technology as a performance enabler. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

We identify practices in establishing biotechnology inter-firm alliance and how they have changed over the period of 1983-1997. The results of this study indicate that technological innovation and the development of new businesses and product lines are tied to inter-firm alliances. While consideration of the discontinuous innovation cycle suggests that over time there should be a growth in mergers and acquisitions as opposed to formation of strategic alliances, we do not find this to be the case. All types of alliances seem to still be important with the result that participation in biotechnology networks is important for new product development. Management practices that consider technological technology acquisition and learning through networked organizations appear to be important