RCA and the VideoDisc: The Business of Research »

The story of the RCA VideoDisc is a rare inside look at a company and the way it conducts the complex process of science-based innovation. The author examines how RCA shaped a sophisticated consumer electronics technology in a research and development effort that spanned fifteen years. We see how the company's history, its structure, its technical capability, and its competition all influenced the choices that were made in moving VideoDisc from laboratory to development group to market, and ultimately to withdrawal from the marketplace.Published in hardcover as RCA and the VideoDisc.

Editors' preface; Preface and acknowledgements; Introduction;

1. Selectavision VideoDisc: opportunity and risk;
2. David Sarnoff: industrial entrepreneur;
3. Research as prime mover;
4. Laboratory as entrepreneur: videoplayer research begins;
5. Selectavision Holotape: RCA's professional innovation;
6. Everything ventured;
7. All in the family;
8. VideoDisc in the public eye;
9. RCA's 'Manhattan Project';
10. On the market;
11. Managing R&D: lessons from RCA; Appendix; Notes; Index.