The aim of this thesis is to empirically study challenges and opportunities in the operational work in contract-based R&amp;D alliances in order to increase the understanding of this type of work system and explore how these work systems could be sustainable. Based on the concept of sustainable work systems, this thesis addresses issues of how work in R&amp;D alliance should support both the competitiveness of the firm as well as regeneration of human resources. In the area of product development, the main drivers for creating alliances are often strategic and concern the globalization of today’s business environment. Issues such as increased cost-based competition, shorter product life cycles, and a greater need for flexibility to tackle technological or strategic shifts have all been argued to motivate companies to form R&amp;D alliances. No doubt adopting the firm’s development of new products to an R&amp;D alliance strategy has a substantial impact on the operational work. However, despite the vast research on why companies engage in R&amp;D alliances, the knowledge of operational work and how they are operationally managed is still limited. Several scholars have recently reported that failed operations may be one of the most important reasons for situations where R&amp;D alliances do not reach their goals. An empirical investigation covering 14 R&amp;D alliances has been conducted based on the Critical Incident Technique. The findings – supported by 158 critical incidents, which have been identified by operational leaders – reveal new knowledge about the R&amp;D alliance operational work with implications for both competitiveness and regeneration of human resources. A central contribution stems from the specific insights given to challenges and opportunities that operational leaders face in the R&amp;D alliance work, in five perspectives on the R&amp;D alliance process: Formation, Formal R&amp;D process, Informal relationships, Embeddedness, and Exit. Further examination of the critical incident data showed several implications for operational leaders with direct contributions to both product development and alliance theory. First, four critical roles for operational leaders in R&amp;D alliances have been suggested: Facilitating, Finishing, Ambassadoring, and Trustkeeping. Secondly, a framework of trust formation mechanisms has been applied and tested. This concluded that process-based, characteristic-based, and institutional-based mechanisms represent important aspects in alliance operation; the relevance of these trust formation mechanisms contributes both to the knowledge of micro-processes of trust formation and specific managerial abilities in R&amp;D alliances. Third, we examine the influence of two types of contextual risks that have been addressed in previous alliance research: relational and performance risks. The comparative analysis of a sub-sample of alliances shows that these risks influence the operational work in R&amp;D alliances for which operational leaders could be specifically trained and prepared. Lastly, a framework that addresses support from HRM in inter-organizational context has been developed and analyzed. This has indicated that HRM represents an important, although unexploited, resource when engaging in R&amp;D alliances. Furthermore, we have suggested a tentative framework for the R&amp;D alliance as a sustainable work system. The overall findings from this study have been synthesized from a sustainable work systems perspective, based on three organizational principles that have been drawn from practice-centered product innovation: broadened roles and responsibilities, work as a collaborative process, and decentralization of strategic information. A fourth principle has been incorporated as well: support systems for sustainable work. This concluded that, in order to be sustainable, companies that engage in R&amp;D alliances should carefully manage and reassess the consequences of these organizational principles in order to simultaneously support the goals that are involved in this type of work system: to simultaneously support innovation, inter-organizational relationships, and the regeneration of human resources. / <p>QC 20100813</p>

本文以台灣工具機產業為例，來分析國家產業政策與公共研發機構的轉變，以及對工具機產業發展的影響。1990年代以後，世界上先進工具機國家均逐漸朝向高階工具機技術發展，台灣工具機產業亦面臨南韓和大陸等工業化國家的追趕，而不得不進行技術學習和升級。此外，台灣工具機產業有90%是屬於中小企業，但是高階工具機技術複雜、研發困難，費用龐大，企業多無法負擔。因此，本文欲探討國家角色，亦即產業政策與公共研發機構對台灣工具機產業發展的影響。 本文的研究成果可以歸納如下：第一，國家逐漸扮演起產業輔導者的角色，產業政策與工具的轉變則是於1980年代起廣泛運用各種政策工具達11種類型，1990年代以財政補助為主要誘因鼓勵業界投入技術研發，2001年以後則是將組織聯盟作為主要的政策工具，為台灣工具機產業的發展開啟了另一種新的技術學習型態。其次，機械所的研發策略轉變為高階工具機技術與工具機關鍵組件技術的雙軸技術研發模式。中區技術服務中心普遍獲得中部工具機業者的信任與肯定，也使得機械所能夠順利協調廠商形成整合性研發聯盟。第三，整合性研發聯盟促使廠商水平合作共同降低研發成本與風險，並藉由產業上下游整機的垂直整合，提升專業模組廠的技術能力，降低模組成本，和提升整機廠的競爭力。 / This thesis is about the upgrading of Taiwan’s machine tool industry and the role of the state on this industry’s transformation. Taiwan’s maching tool industry faced an urgent challenge after the 1990s, as the counterparts in advanced countries have made rapid progess on technological level, while other industrializing countries, such as South Korea and China, had also been catching up quickly. Due to the fact that most of the firms in Taiwan’s machine tool industry were small and medium-sized enterprises that were not affordable financially to do cutting-edge technology research, the burden therefore fall upon the state. This essay has three major findings. To begin with, the state has gradually become an instructor in helping the development of the industry. The state’s role has changed from being an aloof promoter by using various policy instruments to help developing the industry as a whole, to utilizing fiscal incentives to encourage enterprises to engage into R&D activities, and to encouraging the formation of industrial consortia after 2001. Secondly, the role of the major pubic research institute, the Mechanical Industrial Research Laboratories（MIRL）of the Industrial Technology Research Institute has changed from a remoted research oriented institute to one that engage heavily with local firms, from paying attention only to develop new machine models to ally with local firms to develop core components in the machine tool. Thirdly, the formation of R&D alliances, led by MIRL, has largely upgraded the capability of the domestic enterprises. This not only shows in the upgrading of local firms’ technological competence, but also in the improvement of organizational capability of specialized module suppliers and, the reduction of cost structure of the products.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(経済学) / 甲第22953号 / 経博第628号 / 新制||経||295(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院経済学研究科経済学専攻 / (主査)教授 若林 直樹, 教授 椙山 泰生, 教授 原 良憲 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Economics / Kyoto University / DFAM