Rise and Fall of an Innovative Organisation: The Innovation Journey of Ericsson Enschede

This paper presents a case history of an Ericsson design centre in the Netherlands, from its founding in 1990 till its dramatic end in 2003. The paper describes the development of the organisation over the years—its origins, the abundant growth, the many organisational and technological metamorphoses it underwent and the eventual downfall. The purpose of this paper is to search for patterns in the dynamics of internationally operating R&D organisations and to clarify the peculiarities in the innovation journey of this Ericsson design centre. In particular, we focus on the actions of local R&D managers, the design of organisational forms, the relation between technology and organisation, and the relation between local design centres and their headquarters.