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Barriers to scientific and technical knowledge acquisition in industrial R&D
Author(s) -
Sheen Margaret R.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
randd management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.253
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1467-9310
pISSN - 0033-6807
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9310.1992.tb00802.x
Subject(s) - seniority , knowledge management , knowledge acquisition , business , function (biology) , process (computing) , knowledge transfer , engineering , computer science , evolutionary biology , biology , aerospace engineering , operating system
An understanding of how companies acquire external knowledge is important for any organisation which participates in technology transfer partnerships. The process of external knowledge acquisition within the development function of the pharmaceutical industry is described. Six pharmaceutical companies participated in this study. Group depth interviews were conducted with scientists from a wide range of disciplines and at different levels of seniority within their companies. Senior managers and information officers were interviewed individually. The findings indicated that, although this industry is a leader in formalised information services and commercial database usage, even here significant barriers to the acquisition of scientific and technological knowledge exist. In several of the companies examined the process of information acquisition is not addressed strategically and implemented at laboratory level.