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Welcome to week 5 of Competitive Strategy.
Thank you for staying with me throughout this course.
So this week, we're at the BMW world in Munich to talk about research, development
and innovation. Research and development is often said to
be one of the key functions within a firm.
The BMW world is a fancy and busy place. So my apologies in advance for any side
noise you might hear. So here it's all about cars, and you can
somehow feel the spirit of innovation. There's a section about hybrid car
engines. There's another one about intelligent
driving. There are the first electric cars on
display and so much more. But even in industries other than car
manufacturing, which are not traditionally thought of as high tech
industries. The development of new products takes
center stage in the considerations of managers and strategists.
So in the context of R & D, a number of important, strategic questions come up
consistently. In particular, how do firms choose the
intensity of their research activity? How do R & D activities depend on the
nature of innovation, and the position in the technological race towards an
innovation? We will have a closer look at these
aspects, throughout the coming video lectures.
Of course, a great many innovations come about through a stroke of luck or
serendipity. But it would seem sensible to assume that the
majority of innovations come about because their inventors actively strove
towards this particular innovation.
Do you agree? Well, in that case, let's get started.
And let's have a look at why we worry, why we're interested in research and
development.