Abstract
In recent decades, the attention of researchers and policymakers has turned to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), in particular the role they play in science, technology and innovation and the methods they use to implement innovation strategies. In this paper, we look at Russian state-owned companies and their development plans, as well as the management tools they employ to forecast and prioritize technologies. Although most Russian SOEs rarely implement corporate foresight and technology roadmapping, certain successful cases are presented and discussed in the paper. Based on these case studies, we suggest a common structure of a technology roadmap that is suitable for SOEs.
1. Introduction
In today's rapidly changing world, innovation is one of the major factors determining national competitiveness (OECD, 2015a). In developed economies, the business enterprise sector is a catalyst of innovation, and a major source of research and development (R&D) funding.1 While the importance of small firms in innovating, creating jobs, and contributing to national economic growth is indisputable (Audretsch, 2009; OECD, 2012; Siegel et al., 2003), large-scale implementation of technological innovations can hardly occur without diverse efforts of large corporations. The total amount of R&D investments of 2500 of the world's largest companies constitutes more than 90% of the total expenditure on R&D financed by the business sector worldwide (Hernández et al., 2014). Furthermore, this sector definitively leads patent activity: in 2010, it accounted for about 83% of all patent applications (WIPO, 2011).
9. Conclusions
In this paper, we looked at the use of corporate foresight and technology roadmapping tools by the largest Russian SOEs. In most of them, the system of long-term technology planning does not exist explicitly, due to various reasons. The main factor affecting such planning is non-innovative market priorities and STI goals of the surveyed companies whose current concerns are that of modernization and of selling traditional and innovative products inside Russia. Other obstacles include a commitment to public procurement and SOEs' management structure, which is unsuitable for long-term technology planning.
This paper has described several examples of best practices, particularly the cases of Rosatom, Gazprom, and Aeroflot. The first two of these companies have a long tradition of technology forecasting and have a large S&T base, including a number of branch R&D organizations. Technology roadmapping is used largely when dealing with large-scale projects and preparing forecasts of the future value of technologies. Aeroflot, which is different in terms of structure and traditions, is still very receptive to new management practices, and – to date – its specifically developed roadmap guides most of the company's innovations.
