Analysing the stakes of stakeholders in research and development project management: a systems approach

Research and development (R&D) project management involves managing multiple stakeholders with conflicting stakes. This article proposes a systems approach to capture such conflicting stakes of multiple stakeholders in controversial R&D projects. The approach is illustrated using a New Zealand case study related to the use of 1080 chemical for pest management. Initially, the problem situation was structured systemically by analysing the behaviour of the main variables and by conducting a stakeholder analysis. Further, a participative systems model related to the problem situation was developed using a group model‐building process. The analysis of the model revealed a set of feedback loops operating in the system identified as constituting and responsible for the complexity of the problem situation relating to 1080 use. In conclusion, the paper highlights some strategies suggested by the stakeholders to manage conflict.     

Development and application of a new methodology of evaluating industrial R&D projects

This paper proposes a new methodology of evaluating industrial R&D projects to assess the effectiveness of future R&D in terms of financial credibility, to prioritize them efficiently by clear criteria to reduce the time and burden consumed by both project leaders and management staffs. A new methodology has been developed and applied to all Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) R&D projects, and is recognized as a useful system for evaluating many R&D projects in a short period, such as 150 projects per month.     

Principal researcher and project manager: who should drive R&D projects?

In this paper, it is analyzed the hypothesis that in R&D the principal researcher (PR) is accepted as the coordinator or project manager (PM), carrying out the search for financing and to manage contracts, resources, cost, time, scope, risk and uncertainty, communication, stakeholders and so on, in addition to internal research activities. Thus, this study tries to verify this hypothesis through a major literature review in different types of projects developed by university, but also with a look to industry and industry-university cooperation. Two case studies are also analyzed, centered in its R&D project management maturity level. It is concluded that there is an important issue in projects’ success and in the time spent by PR in management, work for which they are under trained; while at the industry there is a greater approach to project management by the proximity of the innovation projects to other industrial projects. Following these initial findings and according to the case study results, it is proposed that R&D Projects in universities would be separated into two synergistic knowledge areas: R&D Management and Project Management. It is also recommended to allocate them to two distinct roles, where they could add value to R&D through their better knowledge and skills.     

R&D projects in the science sector

The purpose of this research was to determine and analyse diversity in various features of R&D projects implemented in the science sector in Poland, financed mostly from public funds. More exactly, the following aspects of R&D projects implemented in the science sector in Poland were examined: the relation between the actually achieved and the initially set goal, the project management methodologies and project time management methods used, features of the project team, the relation between the plan and the actual project realisation and management difficulties encountered in practice. These aspects and their diversity were examined in the context of the whole country, of various fields of science and various research units implementing pure research (the ‘R’ area) or applied research and experimental development (the ‘D’ area). The research was conducted by means of survey methodology covering a sample of participants of R&D projects in the science sector in Poland. The results were analysed by means of statistical methods (which constitutes a clear novelty with respect to the existing literature on R&D projects) and statistically significant phenomena gave rise to several important conclusions on how R&D projects implemented in the science sector are managed and what their realisation looks like in various fields of science and various institutions, in a relatively new EU members state and a former communist country like Poland. These conclusions may be the basis for important hypotheses (which require further research) on the project management quality in the science sector in Poland and in similar countries, which is closely linked to the problem of public money allocation, its efficient spending and control. Also, practical suggestions on improvement measures in the science sector with respect to R&D projects, limited not only to countries like Poland, but of a more general nature, are formulated.     

Toward the development of benchmarking tools for R&D project management

This paper presents an audit model for the process of R&D project management that can be used to check the robustness and repeatability of processes and provide a template for internal and external benchmarking. The intention is to offer a 'fine-grained' model focusing rather closely on the R&D activities within the broader innovation process, thus complementing the more widely based innovation audit models that already exist.
Based on field-work in six business units in ICI and five companies from other industries, the paper sets out three major variants of the R&D project management process. These variants reflect the fact that R&D projects take place in different circumstances and have different objectives.     

Flexibility planning for managing R&D projects under risk

Incorporating managerial flexibility in an innovative R&D project is important, because managers face greater uncertainty in today's competitive and dynamic changing environment. It is essential to bring managerial flexibility into R&D project planning to decrease technical and market risks, while increasing potential market value. The objective of this paper is to develop a flexibility planning methodology based on real option analysis to improve managerial flexibility for R&D projects. The proposed methodology identifies potential risks that may occur during every R&D stage. It also recognizes a cascading option structure to resolve the identified risks, and evaluates and selects adequate options that maximize the potential value of the project. Instead of using a traditional option pricing method, a dynamic programming model that considers multidimensional product performance and market payoff is used to evaluate the R&D project value. Using the proposed methodology, managers can identify future scenarios as a function of their management actions. The proposed flexibility planning methodology can help managers improve managerial flexibility of R&D project and increase the success rate of product launch. A drug development project is used to illustrate the proposed methodology.     

R&D management through network mapping: using the Internet to identify strategic network actors in cooperative research networks

Most R&D management techniques to date have emphasized the immediate organizational context or the internal structure and process of the R&D project. Recently however attempts have been made at situating R&D management in a wider context of inter‐organizational R&D activities. This paper presents the technique of R&D network mapping as a means of providing strategic intelligence to the R&D manager. The paper backgrounds this technique with a discussion of the general issue and significance of R&D networks. A methodology for R&D network mapping is then exemplified by outlining how a network database of cooperating projects and institutes in the telecom research sector was built by utilizing the World Wide Web. Finally a number of suggestions are made as to how and when network mapping should be applied in strategic R&D management.     

Networks and the Decision to Persist with Underperforming R&D Projects

Drawing on aspiration level theory and the networks literature, this paper develops a model toward decision makers' persistence with underperforming R&D projects based on the perceived properties of their personal network. The assumption is that positive feedback from network partners motivates persistence, and that this effect is multiplied when the decision makers' network is larger and denser, when network ties are predominantly strong, and when communication frequency within the network is high. The model is tested by a field experiment and conjoint methodology. Analysis of 1632 persistence decisions nested within 51 scientists responsible for R&D projects reveals that more positive feedback enhances persistence of underperforming R&D projects, and that this effect becomes stronger with increasing network size, network density, and communication frequency. These findings extend the project management literature by focusing on the social environment of the decision maker as one so far neglected factor in empirical studies on persistence decisions. Moreover, this study is among the first to investigate contingency relationships between feedback received from network partners and network structure. Finally, while most studies have emphasized that individuals and organizations can profit from their engagements in social networks, this paper suggests a potential dark side of networks by showing that networks can encourage decision makers to persist with their investment in an underperforming—and potentially failing—project. These results can help project managers involved in networking activities to better understand the effects of these activities on their decision policies, and thus draw better and more accurate decisions. Second, this study provides insights into how organizational strategy with respect to dissemination of R&D results and involvement of the organization's R&D managers in the scientific community influences the persistence of underperforming R&D projects, and thereby the organization's R&D expenditures. This can assist top managers to design financial controls and allocate financial resources to managers of underperforming R&D projects in line with the organization's networking strategy.     

Strategic Project Leadership ® Toward a strategic approach to project management

Strategic Project Leadership ^® (SPL) is a new approach to project management that is focusing projects on creating competitive advantage and winning in the marketplace. This approach is particularly relevant to strategic projects that are initiated to create the company's future, including almost all R&D projects. In the traditional approach, project managers and teams were typically focused on getting the job done, and meeting time and budget goals. SPL , provides a modern view. It suggests that projects are initiated for business reasons, and that just 'getting the job done' is not enough. This paper presents a mindset, a framework, and a practical, step-by-step approach on how to connect project management to business results and how to turn projects into powerful competitive weapons. The paper is based on extensive case research, of which we present six cases – three successes and three disappointments – to demonstrate the value of the SPL approach to project management.¹     

R&D validation planning: a methodology to link technical validations to benefits measurement

An important activity in many R&D departments is the internal development of new process technologies and practices to assist in the marketing, design and manufacturing activities of the enterprise. An integral part of this R&D development is the planning and management of validations of potential technology projects. These validations are necessary to determine the technical, financial and organizational feasibility of the projects and to develop data for benefits measurement for further funding of selected projects. This paper describes a methodology for validation planning of new process technologies and practices. The methodology allows for the explicit linkage of a validation to the identification of its financial and strategic benefits. These often diverse measures of worth are integrated using a proven multi-attribute justification approach within the planning methodology. The methodology and the multi-attribute approach also support the comparison of dissimilar projects having different benefits. The methodology acts as an organizational planning tool integrating the needs of the diverse constituencies involved in R&D planning. It also acts as a tool to aid engineers and scientists identify and present the benefits of the proposed technology.     

The roles of R&D team leaders in Korea: a contingent approach

This study empirically examines the relationship between the role of R&D project leaders and their team performance using data from 87 project teams in 6 R&D organizations in Korea. The results reveal that:
(1) R&D project leaders played five different roles in performing their jobs – strategic planner, team builder, gatekeeper, technical expert, and champion;
(2) All but the champion role of a leader is positively related with project team performance;
(3) However, this relationship between the role of leader and project team performance varies according to the characteristics of R&D project teams and their tasks.
Specifically, it becomes important for a leader to focus less on the team building role as the team gets older. The team building role of a leader, however, is more important for higher performance of relatively certain R&D projects, while for uncertain R&D projects, the strategic planning role appears to be more crucial. Based on these results, this study discusses several managerial and theoretical issues related to the role of a leader in R&D project teams.     

An option approach to the new product development process: a case study at Philips Electronics

The paper considers the product development process as a series of (real) options with reducing uncertainty over time. Criteria are developed to decide on speeding up or delaying the development process. The paper demonstrates how, in the R&D phase, any particular project may be assigned within a 2 × 2 matrix of uncertainty versus R&D option value. A similar matrix can be established for the product launch phase. The matrices support portfolio management throughout the different phases of development and enable management to decide on an appropriate point at which to abandon individual projects. The approach originates from applying real options insights into the product development process at Philips Electronics. The paper is illustrated with some actual R&D projects.     

Exploring the Motivational and Behavioral Foundations of External Technology Experts’ Knowledge Sharing in Collaborative R&D Projects: The Contingency Role of Project Formalization

High‐tech manufacturers increasingly rely on the knowledge contributions of external technology experts (ETEs), who contribute to collaborative R&D projects on behalf of suppliers. Many scholars have considered knowledge sharing in R&D collaborations from a firm‐level or project‐level perspective and focused on formalization as a potential remedy. While individual supplier employees at the operative level make the decision to share critical knowledge, the individual‐level perspective in literature on knowledge sharing in collaborative R&D projects is virtually nonexistent. Because knowledge sharing in collaborative R&D is a largely discretionary act on behalf of the supplier employee, personal motivations rather than inter‐firm relationship elements (e.g., network position or dependency) become the primary determinant of one’s sharing behavior. Abstracting from or ignoring these motivations of supplier employees in studies on collaborative R&D may obscure important insights for R&D managers. This study is an important first step in providing the empirical evidence needed to uncover the motivational and behavioral foundations for ETEs’ knowledge sharing in a collaborative R&D setting. Building on theories of gift and social exchange, this article identifies customer stewardship and distributive fairness as two important personal motivations of ETEs to share knowledge. Project formalization is considered as a key contingency condition. Analyzing survey responses of 186 ETEs, a multilevel regression‐based moderated‐mediation analysis of direct and indirect effects shows that customer stewardship predicts an ETE’s knowledge sharing behavior under (very) low levels of project formalization, and distributive fairness predicts knowledge sharing behavior under medium to high levels of formalization. Together, the results provide R&D project managers who aim to leverage external knowledge contributions with valuable insights that have been obscured in past firm‐level collaborative R&D studies.     

Person–project fit and R&D performance: a case study of Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan

This study examined the relation between the research and development (R&D) performance and the fit between a researcher's cognitive type and the task demand of the project that was implied in Wang, Wu & Horng's (1999) study. Three hundred and eighteen research projects completed by 205 project leaders in the 3 years were classified into Unsworth's four creativity types along two dimensions: (1) whether the research addressed an open- or closed-ended problem and (2) whether the project was assigned or actively sought by the researcher. Each researcher's personal traits were assessed using Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Kirton's Adaptor–Innovator Scale (KAI). Results show that researchers with a conforming, feeling, or judging-type cognition performed better with assigned projects for solving closed problems. Those with an originality and intuitive-type cognition performed better on self-initiated projects for solving open-ended problems. Researchers with sensing-type cognition performed better with assigned projects for solving open-ended questions. Thus, a careful match between a researcher's cognitive type and the task demand of project is important for R&D management.     

Institutional means-ends decoupling work in industrial R&D project implementation

Managing goals is a key network management function and is critical in the implementation of industrial R&D projects. In this paper, we explore the implementation of an industrial R&D project, focusing in particular upon the role of means-ends decoupling work to understand how the goals are managed. We combine several data sources in our case research to explore project implementation through an understanding of means-ends decoupling work. We collected in-depth interviews, archival records and field observations within the R&D research setting of an industrial R&D project in the period of 2015 to 2017. Our findings identify three types of means-ends decoupling work in R&D project implementation: ‘work on’ causal complexity, ‘work at’ behavioural invisibility, and ‘work with’ practice multiplicity. In addition, we uncover six dynamic micro-mechanisms that collectively influence the making and nature of means-ends decoupling work and therefore serve to allow for the fluid switching of work as the institutional conditions permit. Overall, our findings have significant implications for understanding means-ends decoupling as a highly skilled network competence for managing R&D project implementation goals.     

How well did the new Sumitomo Electric project ranking method predict performance?

The development and implementation of a new R&D project scoring method (NS-method) within Sumitomo Electric Industries was introduced in a previous report. This paper evaluates the NS-method's effectiveness by comparing the information generated by application to 146 projects in 1997 with the project achievements in 2000. The test results revealed that the NS-method's evaluation scores were correlated to the performance indicators such as the gross profit and R&D productivity. It also showed that, when projects are classified into three groups (i.e., Top, Middle, Bottom) according to the forecast data generated by the NS-method, the projects in the Top category had higher actual productivity ratios and success rates than those in the Bottom category.     

The value of a ‘failed’ R&D project: an emerging evaluation framework for building innovative capabilities1

In literature and R&D organizations alike, project success consists in minimizing the deviations from set targets in terms of quality, cost and time. The main management task is to execute and monitor progress to reduce risks – assuming that project attributes are known, necessary resources can be estimated and a reasonable time table can be agreed upon. In such a context, evaluating project success is easy. However, in an innovative context, setting project targets initially is difficult and the contributions of the projects sometimes are of an unexpected nature. This paper investigates if projects can be evaluated in terms of how they contribute to the building of innovative capabilities of the firm instead of independently. Based on a case study at the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisians and the theoretical framework of innovation fields, a framework for evaluating projects from an additional perspective is proposed. Based on the following four criteria: financial resources, the development of a structured, refined and expanded strategic vision, developed competences (with related suppliers) and identification of knowledge gaps (occasionally with related partners for knowledge production), this framework shows how seemingly failed R&D projects can instead be considered as invaluable to the overall innovation process.     

When Research Meets Development: Antecedents and Implications of Transfer Speed

This paper focuses on the organization of new product development in large, R&D‐intensive firms. In these firms, research and development activities are often separated. Research is conducted in dedicated research projects at specialized research labs. Once research results are achieved by research projects, they are transferred to business units for further development and commercialization. We investigate the speed whereby research projects transfer their first research results to business units (hereafter: transfer speed). In particular, we analyze the antecedents and performance implications of transfer speed. Based on data of 503 research projects from a European R&D intensive manufacturing firm, our results suggest that a fast transfer speed (as measured by the time it takes for a research project to develop and transfer its first research result to business units) is associated with a better research performance (as measured by the total number of transfers the research project generates). Moreover, we find that different types of external R&D partners—science‐based and market‐based partners—play distinct roles in speeding up project first research transfers. While market‐based partnerships (i.e., customers and suppliers) generally contribute to a faster transfer of first research results, science‐based partnerships (i.e., universities and research institutions) only speed up first research transfers of technologically very complex projects. Our results also show that early patent filings by research projects accelerate first research transfers.     

Organization of industrial R&D on a global scale

Although the globalization of industrial R&D processes has increasingly attracted management scientists and considerable work on R&D internationalization has been done since the 70s, important problems in organizing geographically distributed R&D sites have not yet been resolved. This analysis is based on 165 interviews in 31 technology-based multinationals from Switzerland, Germany, USA, and Japan conducted between 1994 and 1997. We describe the extent of R&D internationalization, its key drivers and principal impediments. Two trends are identified: (i) a geographic concentration on leading technology centres, and (ii) a tightened coordination of R&D units. Overlaying structures, superimposed to regional and functional structures, play a central role in overcoming current deficits in global R&D management. Organizational constituents of this structure are technology offices (Schering), technology management as a competence center (Schindler), central project offices (IBM), central project management (Bayer), project oriented career development (Bosch), virtual project management departments (Roche), and cross-cultural job rotation (ATR).     

International R&D project evaluation by multinational corporations in the electronics and IT industry of Singapore

This paper explores a number of variables associated with the evaluation of international R&D projects by multinational corporations (MNCs) in the electronics and IT industry of Singapore. Empirical analysis of the data collected from R&D managerial executives suggests a series of considerations in relation to their R&D investments. It is desirable if R&D can create a potential impact on the growth of their regional and international businesses. In considering the risks associated with an R&D project, a balance approach would be appropriate when demanding a return on investment. In particular, the consistence with customer demands, the achievement of time‐based competitiveness, the training of R&D manpower and the development of conducive innovation environments are fundamental to the success of international R&D projects.