R&D Intensiveness of Manufacturing Industries 



Group I 



Kt-D iiienliils nnil 



eti^itieers per 1 ,000 



employees, 1970 



Chemicals & Allied Products 38 



Machinery 28 



Electrical Equipment & Communications . . 39 



Aircraft & Missiles 74 



Professional & Scientific Instruments 31 



Mean 42.0 



Group II 



Petroleum Refining & Extraction 18 



Rubber Products 18 



Stone, Clay, & Glass Products 14 



Fabricated Metal Products 10 



Motor Vehicles & Other Transportation 



Equipment 20 



Mean 16.0 



Group III 



Food & Kindred Products 6 



Textiles & Apparel 4 



Lumber, Wood Products, & Furniture 4 



Paper & Applied Products 6 



Primary Metals 6 



Mean 5.2 



Source; National Science Foundation, Rnmnl, ami Dm/ofi.nrn/ :n l:i,iiiilr\i. 1170, (NSF 72-309) 



8.0 



1.1 

 2.1 

 1.9 

 1.2 



3.5 

 2.0 



0.4 

 0.5 

 0.4 

 0.7 

 0.8 



0.6 



(Data for the percent of net sales devoted to 

 R&D are not available.) This places nonmanu- 

 facturing industries between Groups II and III of 

 the manufacturing industries with respect to 

 R&D intensiveness. 



Company Size and R&D Jntemiveneis. Larger com- 

 panies invested proportionally more of their re- 

 sources in R&D than smaller ones over the 

 period for which comparable data are available 

 (figure 68). Very large companies (10,000 or 

 more employees) devoted 4 to 5 percent of their 

 net sales to R&D in 1967 and 1970, as compared 

 with some 2 percent for smaller companies in 

 1967. The smallest companies (less than 1,000 

 employees), however, had almost the same ratio 

 of R&D scientists and engineers to total em- 

 ployees as the largest companies in 1967. This 

 ratio declined significantly in the largest com- 

 panies between 1967-70. 



Concentration of Industrial R&D 



One of the most salient features of R&D in 

 this sector is its high concentration within a few 

 industries within the manufacturing sector. In 

 1970, 81 percent of industrial R&D funds were 

 spent by five industries: aircraft and missiles (29 

 percent); electrical equipment and communica- 

 tions (24 percent); chemical and allied products 

 (10 percent); machinery (10 percent); and motor 

 vehicles and other transportation equipment (8 

 percent). Yet together these industries account 

 for less than one-half of total manufacturing 

 sales. This pattern of concentration developed in 

 the 1950's and continued with little change 

 through the 1960's. Since 1963, however, there 

 has been a continuous but small (5 percent) 

 reduction in the concentration. This shift is pri- 

 marily due to declining expenditures for R&D 

 related to aircraft and missile development, and 



79 



