The Business of Research: RCA and the VideoDisc (Studies in Economic History and Policy: USA in the Twentieth Century) [Hardcover]

Margaret B. W. Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 29, 1986 | Series: Studies in Economic History and Policy: USA in the Twentieth Century

The story of the RCA VideoDisc is a rare inside look at a company and the way it conducts the complex process of science-based innovation. The author examines how RCA shaped a sophisticated consumer electronics technology in a research and development effort that spanned fifteen years. We see how the company's history, its structure, its technical capability, and its competition all influenced the choices that were made in moving VideoDisc from laboratory to development group to market, and ultimately to withdrawal from the marketplace. Published in hardcover as RCA and the VideoDisc.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is a fascinating inside history of the management of a recent R&D project and its broader meaning. After a background section, Graham describes the series of R&D decisionsshaped by the past, divisional conflict, managers, and competitiondating from 1964 through market failure of RCA's VideoDisc player in 1984. The author's style is direct and clear. Leonard Reich's The Making of American Industrial Research: science and business at GE and Bell (Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1985) is a companion volume with a broader and more distant focus. RCA and the VideoDisc is a readable and stimulating work of scholarship, based on exceptional access to corporate sources. Recommended for most business history collections. John Cudd, Sch. of Library & Informational Science, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"The history she presents is essentially a tale of management. Yet it will be valuable to historians of technology in heightening our sensitivity to corporate policies and politics that affect the conduct of industrial R&D." Technology and Culture

"Margaret Graham offers an absorbing insider account of a technological innovation that went wrong." The Philadelphia Inquirer

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; First Edition edition (August 29, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521322820
• ISBN-13: 978-0521322829
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,987,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The consequences of failure of vision, March 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Business of Research: RCA and the VideoDisc (Studies in Economic History and Policy: USA in the Twentieth Century) (Paperback)

There is a lot of misinformation spread around about the history of the videodisc. If you are curious about the facts, check out this book. It is recommended for all new media designers. It shows the disastrous consequences of failure of vision. In RCA's case, they correctly judged that there was going to be a huge market in consumer video, but it never occurred to them that time shifting, home recording, and program rental would be the features to drive it. In parallel with the capacitance electronic disc (CED) they developed a MagTape system. If they had gone to market with MagTape, there might still be an RCA today.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Historical Reference for the Design Phase of the CED System, May 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Business of Research: RCA and the VideoDisc (Studies in Economic History and Policy: USA in the Twentieth Century) (Paperback)

The definitive historical reference on the design phase of the CED System. This book was largely researched from 1976 to 1978 as an exercise in applied history. The book deals primarily with this late 70's time frame, although it also contains chapters on early RCA history, VideoDisc on the market, and lessons to be learned from the CED project. This book also discusses other consumer video formats developed, but never marketed by RCA, which include Discpix, Photopix, Holopix, Holotape, and Magtape. The more expensive hardcover edition of the book has the title clauses reversed, and also includes a slip cover showing a VideoDisc reflecting a rainbow pattern.

5.0 out of 5 stars Historical Reference for the Design Phase of the CED System, May 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Business of Research: RCA and the VideoDisc (Studies in Economic History and Policy: USA in the Twentieth Century) (Hardcover)

The definitive historical reference on the design phase of the CED System. This book was largely researched from 1976 to 1978 as an exercise in applied history. The book deals primarily with this late 70's time frame, although it also contains chapters on early RCA history, VideoDisc on the market, and lessons to be learned from the CED project. This book also discusses other consumer video formats developed, but never marketed by RCA, which include Discpix, Photopix, Holopix, Holotape, and Magtape.