Cordova Research Group spent more than thirty years conducting pure and applied research for a variety of external customers. With the reduction, however, in Research and Development (R&D) funding,...

Cordova Research Group spent more than thirty years conducting pure and applied
research for a variety of external customers. With the reduction, however, in Research
and Development (R&D) funding, Cordova decided that the survival of the firm would
be based upon becoming a manufacturing firm as well as performing R&D. The R&D
culture was close to informal project management with the majority of the personnel
holding advanced degrees in technical disciplines. To enter the manufacturing arena
would require hiring hundreds of new employees, mostly non-degreed.