The Smart Organization: Creating Value Through Strategic R&D (Hardcover)

~ David Matheson (Author), James E. Matheson (Author) "SMART COMPANIES do great things..." (more)
Key Phrases: dialogue decision process, oyster projects, value creation culture, General Motors, Open Information Flow, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If more companies were to act like this, there might be less demand for off-the-peg strategies from consultants." -- The Economist, July 11, 1998

Product Description

Here is an experience-rich book on how companies can create value by becoming smart organizations. Based on research and consulting engagements with the world's largest R&D-intensive companies, it reveals how senior managers can dramatically improve the return on their companies' investment in R&D and technology.

The Smart Organization brings new perspective to management decision making throughout the organization. It identifies the key practices that enable successful organizations to deliver a stream of winning products and services. Smart organizations, say the Mathesons, have internalized nine interlocking principles essential in creating corporate cultures that emphasize making the right strategic decisions at the right time. They use best practices to support these decisions and sustain their success. These principles--among them, embracing uncertainty, disciplined decision making, and value creation culture--enable companies to make appropriate choices about their R&D planning, portfolio management, and product strategies.

Drawing on the experiences of R&D-intensive organizations all over the globe, the authors illustrate the book with best practice examples from companies like Hewlett- Packard, 3M, Merck, Proctor & Gamble, DuPont, Monsanto, and AT&T. They stress the importance of evaluating trade-offs, investigating alternatives, and getting buy-in across functions to ensure that decisions will be viable from both the technological and managerial perspectives. They show how managers can apply these methods more broadly to create a smart organization. The Mathesons clearly demonstrate that changing the decision-making process is an efficient means of reforming culture and improving not just R&D but overall company performance.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 292 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Press (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087584765X
• ISBN-13: 978-0875847658
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #350,425 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book. If you liked the HBR article, you'll love this!, March 31, 1999

By	T. Noyes (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Frequently organizations face the challange of what not to do. They tend to believe in the person presenting the idea, rather then creating a rigorous process for evaluating the options before them. Companies adopting best practices in managing their investment options realize substantial gains in their long term bottem line. This book quantifies this performance difference, and what the best practices are across a range of industries.

Why aren't organizations more rigorous in selecting projects? The book outlines several barriers which are extremely relevent:

· It will make a popular champion look bad,

· Organizational resistance to change, or cannibalization of an existing business for a new opportunity,

· We confuse the urgent with the important,

· Its hard to agree on measures and success criteria

· People are afraid of making the wrong prediction, so they don't make any,

· Its hard to normalize results from different contributors,

· Business plans are not integrated with new project activity,

· Power and politics, a methodical evaluation leaves no room for interpretation and "behind the scenes" trade offs between groups and individuals,

· Lack of strategy.

The best practices outlined in this book are backed by substantial research. I would have like to have seen a few additional chapters on application of best practices in real companies ... a case study of a turn around.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great insights for all concerned with strategy and renewal., July 31, 1998

By A Customer

Focusing on large R&D intensive organizations, this book explores nine key principles that make these enterprises effective, such as: open information flow, systems thinking, and continual learning. The author's emphasize the decision making process as a means of changing and improving overall organizational performance. If you are seeking new insights into how strategy is developed, excellence can be achieved in decision making, and organization renewal can be realized, you will find this book enlightening and fascinating reading. The insights offered here are by no means limited to high-technology firms; they apply to any organization seeking to be successful in today's fast-paced markets. This work includes an organizational IQ test (a diagnostic tool) for identifying root causes of the barriers to improving decision processes. There is an impressive amount of knowledge about organization to be gleaned in The Smart Company. Whether you are a technology -based bus! iness or not, you will find many nuggets in this work. We highly recommend it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book with real life application, September 19, 2004

By	Vikrant Rajput "Vikrant" (USA , Nashua) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this book with not much idea of what it has got for me.
As a went through some of the initial chapters I really got interested.The book has numerous examples and case studies. This really helps in understanding the concept and driving an analogy to actual life scenarios.
I strongly recommend reading this book.
Thanks.