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    The role of research and development in New Zealand's industrial growth : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography at Massey University.
    (Massey University, 1975) Cunningham, Alison Fay
    The conceptual background to this thesis involves an examination of the interrelationships between technological change, innovation and research and development, and the impact that they can have upon national economic growth and development. Research and development investigations can be translated into product and process innovations and these can cause short and long term structural changes. Such impacts are differentiated temporally and spatially because of the selectivity of the innovation diffusion-adoption process. These relationships can be examined in a more concentrated way by looking at the role of research and development upon New Zealand's industrial growth. Research and development has already contributed significantly to agriculture and, if manufacturing industry is to become a major component of New Zealand's growth, the potential implicit in the greater application of industrial research and development must be considered. The analysis of research and development involved looking at two groups of organisations; individual manufacturing firms and research associations. It was hypothesised that manufacturing firms in New Zealand are essentially concerned with adopting and adapting overseas technology, and that research associations are primarily concerned with improving the efficiency of their industry. Research and development in manufacturing firms was firstly examined generally, with a look at staffing and expenditure figures and the variation in programme emphasis among firms. The sectoral perspective of research and development activity looks at interindustry variations and the influence of firm size upon the type of work undertaken. A four-fold classification of firm organisation was proposed and it is possible to see how the programme emphasis and the criteria for project selection and research and development expenditure varies accordingly. The linkage impacts generated by research and development are also examined. Examples of growth impacts generated by technological and capital goods linkages and the phenomenon of spin-off firms are also discussed. At all times the spatial dimension of these processes is presented so that some idea of the diffusion of the impacts associated with research and development can be gained. The analysis of research and development activity in the research associations proceeded in a similar manner. The particular emphases of the research and development programme were examined, along with the sources of project ideas and the criteria considered in their selection. Any locational and linkage impacts that may be generated were also examined. Emphasis was given to the nature of the interaction that occurs between member firms and the research associations, and to the accountability that the associations have to the industry they serve. Once again the spatial dimensions of the processes examined have been presented. In conclusion, it was determined that the industrial research and development activity carried out in individual manufacturing firms and in the research associations does make a positive contribution to New Zealand's industrial growth. Product ranges can be diversified, production techniques can become more efficient, new firms may be created and general industrial growth ensues. Research and development, as part of the more general phenomenon of technological change, can certainly contribute to New Zealand's industrial and economic growth and development.
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    Knowledge creation in New Zealand manufacturing : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Product Development at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1999) Campbell, Hamish
    Organisational knowledge creation is a key driver of innovation and competitive advantage. The ability to successfully create new knowledge and embody this knowledge into new products, processes, or services is critical to the ongoing survival of an company. Organisational product development activities and practices interplay with the organisational knowledge base to produce these results. The objective of this research was to investigate the knowledge creation processes and practices utilised by a group of New Zealand manufacturers. A series of in-depth interviews was conducted with senior managers of a group of 33 manufacturing companies in the Wellington and Manawatu regions of New Zealand. The majority of the companies saw product development as an important organisational activity, but at the same time only half of the companies made use of a formal product development process. The most important and most frequently used product development activities were related to the physical design and manufacture of a product, and on assessing the viability of a product concept in the early development stages. The activities least frequently used were notable in that they all focussed on intangible elements of the product development process, e.g. test marketing, detailed market research and pre-launch business analysis. Tacit-orientated information sources were identified as being crucial to the companies' overall business activities. Customers, along with personal experience and company staff were identified as the three most important information sources to the companies' overall business activity. Overall the companies placed a greater value on their tacit-based knowledge than their codified knowledge. The companies were ranked based on the innovativness of their knowledge creation activities. The 33 companies were separated into three groups: highly innovative, moderately innovative and least innovative companies. The knowledge creation processes and activities used by these three groups were explored to identify the characteristics that separated the highly innovative companies from the others. Overall the key distinctions were: • a greater degree of formal business planning; • a greater optimism for their company's overall position in five years; • better utilisation of both internal and external-based tacit knowledge; • a more strategic approach to information acquisition; • a greater use of formal product development processes; • a more intensive product development programme; • a shorter product development process; and • better application of the organisational knowledge base for product development activities. Overall, the highly innovative companies demonstrated a greater willingness to take on the challenge of developing new products and to expanding and growing their markets and their business. Perhaps as much as anything it appeared to be this group's attitude to innovation that separated them from the other companies in the study. The highly innovative companies were less formal in terms of their organisational management systems and practices than the moderately innovative companies in the study, but were achieving far greater levels of product innovation. One point to note is the slightly lower level of reported product success amongst the highly innovative companies. This is likely attributable to the shorter product development process that these companies were using, although this is not conclusive and would require further research.