Collaborative modes of R&D: the new challenges for personnel management

Open innovation consists in the continual expansion to sources of innovation outside the firm boundaries and has been largely driven, over the recent past years, by the steady growth of R&D costs and the widespread networking applications of ICT. Collaborative agreements with universities and public research centers are one of the major results of open innovation practices together with a notable increase in the exchange of know-how between firms. In addition, in “science-based” industries such as the pharmaceutical and, more generally, biotechnology, we are witnessing increasing roles played by highly specialized small research companies and the so-called “innovation brokers”. These factors are increasingly modifying the traditional profile of R&D organization, within which the role of R&D personnel often changes. Matrix and network structures have been extensively adopted, and the so-called “integrators of knowledge and expertise” (T-men) are gaining importance as “professionals” within R&D departments. Accordingly, R&D staff managerial models are changing. These models found their cultural and organizational roots in the R&D management approach that can be traced back to Japanese and German companies. The aim of this paper is to investigate the correlation patterns between open innovation strategy, organization of R&D departments and R&D staff management policies. The results of the study are based on the analysis of a case study of an Italian multinational firms operating in the food sector.