R&D activities and sustainable management: A case study of sail

Technological progress plays a central role in the modern economy. It is an important contributor to economic growth and a crucial factor in determining the competitiveness of firms in the marketplace nationally and internationally. R&D is widely recognized to be the basic fulcrum of technological progress and it is the level, quality of research and rate of growth of R&D expenditure which indicates the innovative capacity of any country. Within firms, especially heavy manufacturing public sector industries where R&D is of paramount importance, decision about the magnitude of investment and nature of R&D is mainly guided by consideration of economic returns, though there are other measures of R&D in terms of its contribution to society at large. A number of economic studies have shown that rates of return of R&D to firms, although difficult to measure precisely, are high and returns to society, from the viewpoint of lower cost, improved, or new products and services, are higher. Firms usually engage in R&D only when the results are appropriable and offer rates of return exceeding those of other available investment options like acquisition of new machinery, advertising, or speculative asset purchases etcetera. There are, however, many R&D activities that do not pay off enough in the form of direct benefit but their results can yield significant benefit to the nation in the long run. In this context, the scholar feels necessary to study the R&D activities of SAIL, a public sector behemoth.