Abstract
IT is not always realized that, when research in the laboratory has succeeded in producing a new article or product for manufacture, it is probable that a considerable amount of capital has to be spent—not only on plant, but also on overcoming engineering and chemical difficulties, and often in creating a demand for the product—before any return can be obtained. Under modern conditions one individual can rarely take all the steps required for the development of a new product—the research work, the design and running of the small-scale plant, the market investigations, the design of the full-scale plant, the building of the factory, the running of it, the management of labour, the control of output to meet the demand, the creation of demand, the actual selling and the finding of the capital to erect the plant and for trading. Most of these steps require specialists, and it could scarcely be expected that one man should have the knowledge to do them all well; if he had, it would be difficult for him to decide to which he should give his chief attention as the development proceeded.
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Direction and Utilization of Research. Nature 145, 81–82 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145081a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145081a0