Towards strategic practices in basic research

Drawing upon the literature of business management, the authors develop an approach to the problems of managing the large research laboratories which have now become more common but which have to exist in the changed climate of the 1980s. The types of managerial problems which arise are classified, the politics of their management analysed and the form in which these problems manifest themselves is discussed. It is concluded that those who have charge of large laboratories must be determined to implement what the authors describe as strategic practice if the laboratories are to function efficiently.