PRODUCT AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT INTENSITY IN PROCESS INDUSTRY: A CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ALLOCATION OF COMPANY RESOURCES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROCESS TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

In Process Industry, process development traditionally takes a large part of the company's total development efforts, but has nevertheless not received much attention in academic studies. As a part of a larger research project concerning process development in Process Industry, the allocation of company resources to R&D, and to process development in particular, has been investigated in an exploratory survey to R&D managers in European Process Industry (Mining & Mineral Industry, Food & Beverage Industry, Pulp & Paper Industry, Chemical Industry, Basic Metal Industry, and Other Process Industry). The results show that of the total resources for R&D, 40% was allocated to process development, and over 60% of the companies expected this figure to increase in the future. This figure not only shows the future importance of process development, but also indicates that the importance of product development in this group of companies is at present still rated higher than process development. The results from the study do not fit the most widely used theoretical models, and it is concluded that there is a need for better models with more explanatory power. The new concepts of product and process development intensity are introduced. The product and process development intensities can be looked upon as aggregated measures of individual development efforts by a company, and it is thus argued that they are of overall company strategic importance.