Third Generation R&D, written by three senior consultants from Arthur D. Little, provides managers with a new approach that will make R&D a truly competitive weapon. The authors relate how R&D management has evolved from the naive "strategy of hope" approach of the 1950s & 1960s, when companies spent lavishly in the vague expectation that something good would result, to the more systematic approach of the past two decades. But as we enter the 1990s, it is clear that a new generation of R&D management is needed, one that makes the connection between R&D & broader issues of corporate strategy. The third generation of R&D is a pragmatic method for linking R&D to long-term business planning. It shows managers how to integrate technology & research capabilities with overall management & strategy; break down organizational barriers that isolate R&D from the rest of the company; foster a spirit of partnership & trust between R&D & other units; & create managed portfolios of R&D projects that match corporate goals.