Evaluating non-core technologies: Contrasting external and internal views on corporate research results

Nowadays, many research organizations extract information from research findings that are, as such, not feasible or valuable for their own use. It is crucial for any organization conducting extensive research activities to have effective and efficient methods so that they receive maximum economic benefit from research outcomes. Two separate mail surveys were implemented to find appropriate measures for evaluating research outcomes from both internal and external perspectives. The results of this exploratory study show a wide gap between the internal and external respondents, when considering meaningful and appropriate measures for judging the commercial potential of non‐core technologies. Based on the identified gaps between internal and external views, the study suggests several propositions to guide further theoretical work. Further research is needed to validate the observed differences between the internal and external perspectives on utilising non‐core technologies. Moreover, the underlying reasons for these differences would provide a fruitful opportunity for future research.