The Business of Research - RCA and the VideoDisc

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. For nearly fifty years the RCA name was synonymous with innovation in the industries it helped to build - radio and television broadcasting and manufacturing, and electronics. This book, first published in 1986, presents an absorbing account of 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. Graham's book seeks to examine the nature of science-based innovation as a management problem. It also describes the complex workings of a large corporate R&D organization and the relationship that exists between it and the other components of a major diversified corporation. Above all RCA and the VideoDisc shows that there is nothing innate about the ability to innovate technologically.

Sommario

Editors' preface; Preface and acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Selectavision VideoDisc: opportunity and risk; 2. David Sarnoff: industrial entrepreneur; 3. Research as prime mover; 4. Laboratory as entrepreneur: videoplayer research begins; 5. Selectavision Holotape: RCA's professional innovation; 6. Everything ventured; 7. All in the family; 8. VideoDisc in the public eye; 9. RCA's 'Manhattan Project'; 10. On the market; 11. Managing R&D: lessons from RCA; Appendix; Notes; Index.

Riassunto

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. This book, first published in 1986, presents an absorbing account of how RCA shaped a sophisticated consumer electronics technology in a research and development effort that spanned fifteen years.

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Margaret B. W. Graham
• Con la collaborazione di: Louis Galambos (Editore), Robert Gallmam (Editore)
• Editore: Cambridge Academic
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 29.08.1986
• EAN: 9780521322829
• ISBN: 978-0-521-32282-9
• Dimensioni: 152 mm x 229 mm x 19 mm
• Peso: 570 g
• Illustrazioni: 17 b/w illus., Zeichnungen, nicht spezifiziert, Raster, nicht spezifiziert
• Serie: Studies in Economic History; Studies in Economic History and Policy: USA in the Twentieth Century
• Categorie: Scienze sociali, diritto, economia > Economia > Economia politica; Scienze umane, arte, musica > Storia > Storia dei paesi e delle regioni; USA, Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas