National Academies Press: OpenBook

Time Horizons and Technology Investments (1992)

Chapter: Front Matter

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×

TIME HORIZONS AND TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS

Committee on Time Horizons and Technology Investments

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C. 1992

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
2101 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, DC 20418

NOTICE: The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourage education and research, and recognizes the superior achievement of engineers. Dr. Robert M. White is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

This publication has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a National Academy of Engineering report review process.

Funding for this effort was provided by the the National Academy of Engineering Fund.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 92-80242

International Standard Book Number 0-309-04647-5

Additional copies of this publication are available from:
National Academy Press
2101 Constitution Ave, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20418

S489

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, February 1992

Second Printing, July 1992

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×

COMMITTEE ON TIME HORIZONS AND TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS

DONALD N. FREY, Chairman, Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences,

Northwestern University

ROBERT C. FORNEY, Retired Executive Vice President,

E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company

MARTIN GOLAND, President,

Southwest Research Institute

GEORGE N. HATSOPOULOS, Chairman and President,

Thermo Electron Corporation

TREVOR O. JONES, Chairman of the Board,

Libbey-Owens-Ford Company

HENRY KRESSEL, Managing Director,

Warburg, Pincus & Company

JOHN R. MOORE, Retired Vice President and General Manager,

Electro-Mechanical Division, Northrop Corporation

JOHN W. PODUSKA, SR., President and CEO,

Stardent Computers Inc.

JAMES BRIAN QUINN, William and Josephine Buchanan Professor of Management,

Amos Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College

SHELDON WEINIG, Chairman and CEO,

Materials Research Corporation

Staff

BRUCE R. GUILE, Director,

NAE Program Office

KATHRYN J. JACKSON, NAE Fellow

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×

TIME HORIZONS AND TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×

Preface

It is often asserted that the short time horizons of U.S. firms are contributing to a decline in the technological strength and competitive performance of U.S. companies in technology-intensive industries. Although this assertion is now widely accepted among those concerned with U.S. competitive performance, relatively little attention has been focused on examining, in detail, the time horizons that organizations use or the forces that create inappropriate, short time horizons.

To address these issues, the National Academy of Engineering established a Committee on Time Horizons and Technology Investments under the chairmanship of Donald Frey, formerly chairman and CEO of Bell & Howell Corporation and now professor of industrial engineering and management sciences, Northwestern University. The study committee was carefully balanced to ensure that the members of the committee, individually and collectively, had deep expertise in matters of corporate governance, investment decision making, technology commercialization, manufacturing, management of research and development, and general business management.

A study was launched to gather evidence and sort out claims about the time horizons of U.S. businesses and the impact of time horizons on the willingness of companies to invest in research, development, or the deployment of new technology. The particular concern was that the time horizons of U.S. businesses were shortening and that shortened time horizons would create a reluctance to invest in technology-related activities with long-term payoff.

The study had a special focus on the interaction of corporate governance and managerial decision making with the overall financial and economic environment. Although focusing on the technological aspects of

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×

businesses, the study nonetheless needed to engage issues such as the cost of capital, financial market structures, the impacts of mergers and acquisitions, changing company capital structures, and increasing debt levels. The committee's report makes an important contribution to a complex and often confused aspect of debates over the causes of, and solutions to, U.S. competitiveness problems.

On behalf of the Academy of Engineering I would like to thank the chairman and the members of the committee (p. iii) for their insights and efforts on this project. Over the course of two years, several committee meetings and workshops, and innumerable FAXs, phone calls, and draft versions of the report, they remained actively engaged and unfailingly constructive. I would also like to thank several members of the NAE Program Office. NAE Fellow Kathryn J. Jackson served as study director from the start of the study through the spring of 1991, when she left at the end of her fellowship. Annemarie Terraciano and Margery Harris provided administrative and logistical support for the project. Bruce R. Guile, director of the NAE Program Office, added this study to his workload in mid-1991 and saw it through to completion. They all deserve special thanks.

Robert M. White

President

National Academy of Engineering

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×

TIME HORIZONS AND TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
This page in the original is blank.
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
Page R1
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
Page R2
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
Page R3
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
Page R4
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
Page R5
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
Page R6
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
Page R7
Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
Page R8
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
Page R9
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering. 1992. Time Horizons and Technology Investments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1943.
×
Page R10
Next: Executive Summary »
Time Horizons and Technology Investments Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $45.00
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

It is frequently argued that U.S. corporations have shorter time horizons for planning and investment than their Japanese and German competitors. This argument, though widely accepted in studies of U.S. competitiveness, has rarely been examined in depth.

Time Horizons and Technology Investments explores the evidence that some U.S. corporations consistently select projects biased toward short-term return and addresses factors influencing the time-related preferences of U.S. corporate managers in selecting projects for investment. It makes recommendations to policymakers and managers about policies to mitigate negative external influences and about strategies to remove internal biases toward noncompetitive decisions.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!