Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Key to R&D Globalization

Product innovation Management (PIM), is the next challenge in global scale, and is also the key for success in a globalized market. The efficiency of the product innovation process, can be improved by mapping and standardizing its workplace, and using the existing corporate ‘IT’ infrastructure, to improve the information flows, as well as the accessibility and visibility of the information. Knowledge and its management, in tandem with creative product design, are the backbone of the R&D efforts in global scale. But, before going any further, one needs to consider an important change in the concept of R&D and its ‘paradigm’, which might bring about a transformation of ‘R&D’ terminology to ‘C-R&D’ which the letter ‘C’, stands for ‘Communication’ and/or ‘Contact’, signifying the need for a communication and contact with the consumer, prior to any research and development activities in particular, in a global market, what we referred to as ‘Information Flows’, above and is a prerequisite of ‘globalization’. Although we continue to use the term ‘R&D’ in this article but, the importance and indeed the necessity of the presence of an ‘invisible C’ should not be ignored nor, forgotten. In proceeding paragraphs, we will see why.