BASIC RESEARCH INSIDE THE FIRM - LESSONS FROM AN IN-DEPTH CASE-STUDY

The economic analysis of basic research in firms has been a growing concern, but only a few attempts have been made to understand the realities which characterize the implementation of this activity. In an in-depth case study, this paper considers the organisational specificities of basic research inside the firm and emphasizes the strategic role of human resources. It shows that the process of innovation, which was seen in the 1970s as a stock of information to be managed, became, during the 1980s, a sequential learning process which covers a variety of different but complementary organizational designs in the basic research unit. On this basis, some analytical implications for technology and innovation processes are suggested. As the production process is a sequential learning process, an innovative firm strategy is defined as one which is able to balance short and long terms requirements with regard to profitability. This appears as an out-of-equilibrium problem where the crucial determinant is the organizational design chosen by the firm in order to generate and implement new learning and skills.