Coordinating internationally dispersed R&D laboratories

In a questionnaire study among the world’s largest companies, Pearce and Singh find that only a quarter of all laboratories is closely coordinated with the parent company, while 22% of the companies do not see any coordination (Pearce/Singh, 1991, pp. 198 et seq.). Most of the coordination is approached systematically (68%), some in an ad hoc fashion (25%), and the rest infrequently (7%) (Pearce/Singh, 1991, pp. 198 et seq.). This leads us to think that quite a number of firms face severe problems in managing the interfaces among laboratories, and between laboratories and the other departments of a company.