"The Secret of Success is an exploration of the enigma of technological innovation. It provides a new paradigm for academic scholars and a manifesto for managers on how to release the latent talent of research teams for optimal effect. Based on an investigation conducted in the R & D laboratory of a Fortune 500 company, the book synthesizes interviews with quantitative techniques to provide insight into how knowledge travels and how it is used in technical organizations to aid innovation. The author offers a new perspective on the factors that need to be taken into account when managing R & D projects, and specifically examines how these factors should be mobilized and combined in the quest for success. The book suggests that the informal advice relations need to be reinforced through, and not thwarted by, the formal structure. This should be useful reading for anyone interested in the central problems of research and design in the knowledge industries of the twenty-first century."--Jacket.

Technological innovation today : old wine in new bottles? -- Success in technically innovative projects : four critical factors -- Beyond the formal and informal divide -- Illustrations from the field : three cases of success and failure -- Lessons of success -- Appendix 1 : Summary of the projects -- Appendix 2 : Applying qualitative and quantitative methodologies to the study of technical projects.