美国公司研发开支保持稳定 R&D Spending Holds Steady In Slump

通用电气在南卡罗来纳州的一家工厂正在对发电用
涡轮机进行测试

眼下，美国各大公司纷纷裁减员工并下调工资水平，但许多公司并未停止在创新方面的开支。

据《华尔街日报》进行的分析，为防止有朝一日摆脱衰退时出现产品陈旧的局面，美国大公司在去年四季度经济低迷之际用于研发的开支仍接近一年前的水平，虽然同期收入下降了7.7%。这篇文章分析了美国28家研发开支规模最大的公司，不过其中不包括深陷困境的汽车企业以及制药企业。这两个行业的研发开支受到政府相关要求的制约。

通用电气在南卡罗来纳州的一家工厂正在对发电用
涡轮机进行测试
这些研发开支大户称，根据从过去经济衰退期学到的经验，如果希望在经济形势改善时有强大的竞争力，必须在艰难时期保持研发投资。从iPod到节能型飞机发动机，许多创新产品都是在衰退时期发明的。如果过去的规律仍在起作用，那么，今天的研发开支将为企业在经济复苏时取胜打下基础。

波士顿咨询公司(Boston Consulting Group)的高级合伙人安德鲁(Jim Andrew)说，“企业大都认识到，大量减少研发开支是一种自杀。不到迫不得已不能削减研发开支。”

上述28家公司去年四季度的开支总体下降了0.7%。其中，微软的研发开支较上年同期增加了21%，虽然其同期收入基本持平。英特尔(Intel)四季度净利润下降了90%，但该公司今年仍计划拿出54亿美元用于研发(这个数字略低于去年)，并打算未来两年支出70亿美元用于工厂的升级改造。生产Scotch胶带和Post-it记事贴的3M公司过去15个月来共裁减了4,700名员工，且今年计划削减30%资本开支，但该公司计划维持或小幅增加研发开支。

飞思卡尔半导体公司(Freescale Semiconductor Inc.)的技术总监Lisa Su说，“我们真的很注意保护研发。”这家芯片制造商四季度收入下降近40%，但研发开支仅减少6%。“当经济走出衰退时，要靠研发成果来推动增长。”

咨询公司Booz & Co.的合伙人雅鲁泽尔斯基(Barry Jaruzelski)说，削减研发预算的公司“到市场恢复增长时可能难以抓住机会。”他举例说，电视机和巧克力粒饼干都是1933年大萧条时期得到了改进，但直到第二次世界大战后才开始在市场上畅销。

企业和关注研发问题的咨询人士则认为，研发开支保持强劲的现象可能只是暂时的。研发开支计划经常是提前制定的，经过一定时间后可能会削减。今天表示要保护研发开支的公司可能明天就决定下调，如果衰退加剧的话就更会如此。大公司并购后可能会缩减成本，总的研发支出将受到影响。

另外，仅靠资金未必就能确保开发出成功的产品。雅鲁泽尔斯基说，一些公司之所以超过竞争对手，并不是因为它们在研发上花费更多，而是因为它们的开支更明智。比如，甲骨文公司(Oracle) 2007财政年度的研发开支占收入的12%，而软件类企业的总体比例为13.6%，但2008财年甲骨文的利润增幅达到29%，且该公司目前还在增长。

同样，高额开支并不意味着研发人员就能像当年发明电视一样搞出新玩意。一些美国企业现在将研发部门的重点放在一些近期利润更有把握的比较安全的项目上。这未必是能改变世界的开支。曾在惠普(H-P)和施乐(Xerox Inc.)任职的电脑科学家莱明(Mik Lamming)说，“很多真正的好主意都是那些试图搞些古怪玩意的人想出来的。”

研究研发投资的Battelle Memorial Institute预计，美国企业、政府、大学今年的研发开支合计将增加3%，但到2010年可能会有所下降。Battelle的分析师达格(Jules Duga)说，在上世纪八、九十年代经济下滑期大幅削减研发开支的许多公司后来用了5年多时间才恢复到之前的开支水平。达格对这轮衰退比较乐观，因为美国公司通过将研发项目外包，可以用较少的开支完成更多的研发项目。

与此同时， 印度、中国等继续研发投资的国家使美国面临着新的竞争。总体来看，Booz估计北美去年的研发开支增长约4%，日本增长约2%，而欧洲减少了约1%。印度和中国增加了7%。

达格预计，这些国家未来几年在研发开支方面将超过美国，这将使美国企业的竞争力受到损害。印度科技服务公司Infosys Technologies Ltd.在某些领域与国际商业机器公司(IBM)和惠普(Hewlett-Packard Co.)有竞争关系。该公司研发费用占收入的比例虽然较小，但在2008年四季度其研发开支增加近64%，而IBM同期的研发开支下降近4%。
Major U.S. companies are cutting jobs and wages. But many are still spending on innovation.

Wary of emerging from the recession with obsolete products, big U.S. companies spent nearly as much on research and development in the dismal last quarter of 2008 as they did a year earlier, even as their revenue fell 7.7%, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The sampling looked at 28 of the largest U.S. R&D spenders, excluding deeply troubled auto makers and the drug industry, where R&D spending is dictated by government requirements.

Big R&D spenders say they've learned from past downturns that they must invest through tough times if they hope to compete when the economy improves. Many innovative products, from the iPod to fuel-efficient aircraft engines, were hatched during downturns. If past patterns hold, today's spending may plant the seeds of innovations that triumph in the recovery.

'Companies by and large realize that large reductions in R&D are suicidal,' says Jim Andrew, a senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group. 'It is the last shoe to drop.'

Overall spending by the 28 companies nudged down 0.7% in the quarter. Among those keeping up R&D funding is Microsoft Corp., which spent 21% more in the fourth quarter over the year-earlier period, while revenue was virtually flat. Intel Corp., which posted a 90% drop in fourth-quarter net income, plans to spend $5.4 billion on R&D this year, down slightly from last year, plus $7 billion in the next two years to modernize its plants. 3M Co., maker of Scotch tape, Post-it notes and other products, has laid off 4,700 workers in the past 15 months and will cut capital expenditure 30% this year, but it expects R&D spending to stay flat or increase slightly.

'We are looking at really protecting R&D,' says Lisa Su, chief technology officer of Freescale Semiconductor Inc. The chip maker's fourth-quarter revenue fell almost 40%, but R&D spending fell only 6%. 'That's what's going to drive growth coming out of the downturn.'

Companies that cut development budgets 'may not be in a position to take advantage of things when they come back,' says Barry Jaruzelski, partner at consultant Booz & Co. He points to television and mass-produced chocolate-chip cookies as innovations that were refined during the Great Depression, but weren't commercial hits until after World War II.

The robust R&D spending may be temporary, say companies and consultants who study R&D. Research budgets often are planned in advance and take time to cut. Companies that today pledge to protect R&D may cut it tomorrow, particularly if the recession worsens. Mergers of major players could lead to cost-cutting that crimps overall R&D spending.

Also, dollars alone don't always ensure successful products. Some companies have outpaced competitors not by outspending them on R&D, but by spending wisely, says Mr. Jaruzelski. In its 2007 fiscal year, Oracle Corp. spent 12% of its revenue on research and development, compared with 13.6% for software companies overall, Booz says. But Oracle's fiscal 2008 profits increased 29% from a year earlier, and the company has continued to grow.

Likewise, heavy spending doesn't necessarily mean researchers are hatching the next TV. Some U.S. companies are retooling R&D to focus on safer projects with more assured short-term profits. That isn't necessarily the kind of spending that changes the world. 'So many really good ideas came from people just trying to do something that was pretty wacky,' says Mik Lamming, a computer scientist who has worked at H-P and Xerox Inc.

The Battelle Memorial Institute, which tracks R&D investment, predicts cumulative spending by companies, government and universities will rise more than 3% this year, but expects a decline in 2010. Battelle analyst Jules Duga says many companies that made deep R&D cuts during the downturns of the 1980s and 1990s took more than five years to return to prior spending levels. Mr. Duga is more optimistic about the current downturn because U.S. firms can do more with less by outsourcing R&D overseas.

At the same time, the U.S. also faces new competition from countries such as India and China that continue to invest. Overall, Booz estimates that R&D spending last year grew about 4% in North America and 2% in Japan, and fell about 1% in Europe. In India and China, though, it grew 7%.

Mr. Duga predicts those countries will surpass the U.S. in R&D spending in coming years, hurting the competitiveness of U.S. firms. Indian tech-services firm Infosys Technologies Ltd., which competes with International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. in some areas, spends a smaller percentage of revenue on R&D. But R&D spending at Infosys grew nearly 64% in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a roughly 4% decline at IBM in the same quarter.