Abstract
THE lecture on “The Organisation of Industrial Research” which Dr. R. P. Russell, president of the Standard Oil Development Co., delivered on June 9 to the Industrial Research Committee of the Federation of British Industries was far more than a factual review of one of the world's largest research organisations or its achievements in the petroleum industry: it was a masterly analysis of factors and conditions determining the success of industrial research in any field and an outstanding contribution to what may be termed the philosophy of research. Research activity in his own Company, he said, began in 1919 with a group of twenty-six people: to-day the staff includes 2,456 technologists, engineers, assistants and clerical personnel all engaged exclusively on research and development projects, as well as several hundred working on laboratory phases of direct operating problems and an engineering staff of more than five hundred. Dr. Russell computed that this expansion had brought a return of £15,400 of additional profit for each £1,000 expended on research and development, and he believes that without research and development any company or industry would stagnate and in time lose most of its business to more far-sighted competitors.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Management of Research. Nature 160, 547 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160547a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160547a0