R&D Expenditures As Resource Buffers: Managing The Capacity To Innovate

Abstract

This article develops an argument for the use of “resource buffers” as an explanatory construct in the study of product innovation and corporate strategy.  Much of the largely descriptive rhetoric developed in the study of innovating behavior within the firm can be translated into more meaningful terms when framed with this context.  A study of the pharmaceutical industry is provided to illustrate the contribution of resource buffers to the dynamics of successful product innovation.