Forty-year evolution of engineering research: a case study of DuPont´s engineering research and development

The purpose of this paper is to explore and map out the historical developments in the management of engineering research and development (ER&D) at the DuPont company since the early 1950s. A brief survey of the early efforts of organizing for R&D at DuPont and subsequent industry background are given to get a perspective on the company. The restructuring of R&D organization and the engineering R&D, in particular, are critical to understand the developments that lead to the changes in ER&D, in terms of its leadership role in the overall research functions, and its vision of the future. The data were acquired through extensive interviews with and company documents from various department managers and directors in DuPont