Le management des équipes de R&D entre organisation et contrat d’incitation : l’essaimage stratégique

Innovation is a major strategic issue for high-tech companies, justifying substantial investments in R&D. The optimization of these investments depends to a great extent on the organizational management of innovation, which can lead to the development of complex organizational structures of limited effectiveness. After exploring the limits of the assumptions underlying such an approach, this article shows that the relationship between managers and researchers is characterized by an asymmetry of information, with the balance tipped in favour of the researcher. One solution to the problem posed by the delegation relationship between the employer and the researcher lies in the creation of strategic spin-offs. This practice, which allows a researcher to create a company on the basis of work performed while in the employment of the parent company, represents a strong economic and symbolic incentive for the researcher to share his information and maximize the financial value of his research. The article’s authors approach the issue of the growing importance of the strategic spin-off for high-tech companies by proposing a case study of the French company that has shown the greatest commitment to this approach – France Télécom.