Methodology for increasing the adoption of R & D project selection models

Although some studies and experiences have shown that R & D project selection models can be potentially useful decision aids, their adoption and routine use is not widespread. This lack of usage may be a consequence of the lack of attention which model builders have traditionally given to the prevailing adoption attitudes of R & D managers. A design methodology centering around the measurement of adoption attitudes has been developed and used by the authors. The methodology consists of procedures for analyzing the organizational climate relative to project selection model usage, developing an acceptable model form relative to the organizational climate, and inducing the adoption of this model form within the climate. Three case applications of the methodology are described in which negative-to-positive shifts in adoption attitudes occurred and project selection models were adopted for long-term use. These results indicate that the use of this general methodology may lead to increased formal adoption and widespread usage of project selection model forms in R & D.     

R and D Project Selection and Evaluation: A Microcomputer-Based Approach

This paper develops microcomputer-based R and D project selection and project evaluation models. The models use Lotus 1-2-3 as a vehicle to provide practical research management support suitable for a developing country. The models are readily adaptable for various R and D management applications.     

MVNO services: Policy implications for promoting MVNO diffusion

This study seeks to validate a comprehensive model of consumer acceptance in the context of MVNOs. While the MVNO business model has gained much popularity over the past few years, it shows a sign of drastic decrease. This study uses the unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology (UTAUT) model with constructs from the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) such as compatibility, relative advantage and social influence. Structural equation modeling is used to construct a predictive model of attitudes toward the MVNO services. While the model confirms the classical role of technology adoption factors (i.e., perceived usefulness and ease of use are key antecedents to consumers’ intention), the results also show that users’ intention and usage are influenced by IDT factors. The model brings together extant research on MVNO and provides an important cluster of antecedents to eventual technology acceptance via constructs of behavioral intention to use and to the actual MVNO usage. Policy implications of MVNO are discussed in terms of consumer adoption and market diffusion.     

The application of a research project selection method

This paper describes the application of a linear programming model to project selection and resource allocation problems in two industrial R & D laboratories. Mathematical models have not been widely used in practice because of the inherent uncertainty of research. The model discussed here yields information about the outcome of decisions under conditions of uncertainty. The elements of the model are developed, using simple examples, and the form of the complete model outlined. Benefit evaluation is carried out using probabilistic networks and uncertainty in benefits included by utilizing the concept of certainty equivalence. The use of the model in practical situations is discussed, with examples of the information obtained from the solution, and sensitivity studies to investigate the uncertain environment are described. The result is a flexible model, which produces information necessary for planning purposes and which is acceptable to practising R & D Managers.     

The organizational implications of implementing key account management: A case-based examination

Most companies struggle in the effort to become more customer-centric. A typical example of customer-centric change initiative is adoption of a key account management (KAM) program. Companies are increasingly adopting such programs, but knowledge of how to successfully manage the organizational change required to implement them is extremely limited. Our goal in this study was to use case study methodology in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of organizational issues that firms need to consider when implementing a KAM program. We accordingly describe, using as our observational lens a well-established framework (the 7S model), how a multinational company adopted a KAM program in a local branch. We argue, on the basis of our review of the literature on KAM adoption and on change management in sales organizations, that the 7S model can be used to meaningfully synthesize both processes. Using the 7S model, we describe and interpret the change management project the company followed in order to implement the KAM program. Based on this we present some key learnings from the case, accompanied by a conceptual model and a checklist, advanced to help academics and executives better understand how to investigate and manage KAM adoption programs.     

R & D and the company's requirements

Numerous models have been put forward in the literature for the selection and evaluation of projects, many of which are based on optimizing the return on investment by the company in R & D projects. This is a noble aim but in practice the financial data available are often of dubious accuracy and so many other factors are involved in actually adopting a portfolio of selected projects that project selection often becomes a theoretical exercise. It is suggested that the selection of projects is in essence the adoption of a strategy which is within the policy and long-term aims of the company and also within the policy and scientific development of the R & D part of the company. Such a strategy is usually sub-optimum for both the company and the R & D division, as it is a compromise between a desire for high pay-back investments by the company and the maintenance of a scientifically balanced R & D involving some long-term, unknown return, investments. A method is currently being experimented with by Unilever Research which illustrates where conflicts arise between the policy of the main company and that of research, and assists management in arriving at a strategy which most closely fulfils the needs of both policies. Both the concept of the method and its practical use are described in this paper.     

The organizational adoption of high-technology products “for use”: Effects of size, preferences, and radicalness of impact

This research reports the results of a study on organizational adoption of high-technology products “for use” in contrast to “for manufacture.” Additionally, the study examines high-technology adoptions which often have different issues that are important to the decision process relative when compared to the adoption of less-technical products. For example, the level of compatibility or the availability of complementary products (e.g., network externality considerations) are often important issues for high-technology adoptions. As such, this study provides additional information in the relatively underresearched organizational adoption literature, particularly as it relates to high-technology products. In order to maintain connectivity with past work, we look at the firm size versus adoption issue. At the same time, we add new information by also examining how organizational preferences for products, and the degree of radicalness of the products affect organizational adoption. We use a proportional-hazards model to test our hypotheses using panel data on 400 firms that are drawn from 14 industries. As part of the research effort we developed an improved scale for judging the radicalness of a product than has been used in prior research. Furthermore, we extended the Booz, Allen, & Hamilton New Product Categories (1982) approach to incorporate innovation impact. As expected, the results show that size “does matter,” but that it is modified by degree of product radicalness and organizational preference. Interestingly, we found that for high-technology products “for use,” organizations prefer radical impact products but adopt incremental impact products. Hence, preferences and purchase behaviors do not match.     

Some evidence on the accuracy of forecasts in R & D projects

In recent years many formal attempts, e.g. Baker & Pound, (1964), have been made to help R & D management assess the worth of R & D projects and select those most worthy of inclusion in the R & D programme. Most of these attempts are based on financial appraisals of a project's worth and require estimates of the costs and likely revenues that will result from the adoption of a given project. It is clear, therefore, that the validity of any measure of a worth for a project is dependent upon the accuracy of the estimates of cost and revenue associated with that project. Unfortunately the limited amount of evidence so far presented suggests, in particular, that cost estimates are extremely inaccurate.
In this paper, therefore, we try to add some further evidence on forecast accuracy for a number of industrial R & D projects. We begin with a short review of the existing literature evidence and continue with an analysis of the past effectiveness of R & D work and, in particular, of forecast accuracy.     

An R & D planning and control servosystem: A case study*

This paper describes a planning and control system (PACS) to aid R & D decision-making which has been developed and used at the Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. The planning model portion of the integrated system is a two-dimensional dynamic programming resource allocation algorithm which performs project selection, budgeting and scheduling. Behavioral parameters that can be used to simulate certain organizational factors are included in the planning model. The control model portion of the integrated system develops cost-effectiveness measures of variances between actual and planned performances for ongoing projects over time, which provide early warnings of pending project failures and guide control action. Applications of the system at Monsanto indicate that it significantly aids the development of satisfactory organizational decisions and also provides a laboratory for pretesting decisions.     

Project selection by scoring for a large R&D organisation in a developing country

A project selection method has been derived for the R&D Division of an electrical equipment manufacturer in a developing country. In the method, a scoring model is used to select and rank projects which have a wide range of objectives and characteristics. The criteria used for selection relate specifically to the organisation's needs and culture, and they are weighted according to their relative importance as perceived by executives. The results of the study indicate the research culture of the R&D Division and reflect its environment. As such the paper illustrates a methodology which can be universally applied to large R&D organisations in developing or developed countries.     

Organizational adaptation for using PLM systems: Group dynamism and management involvement

New product development (NPD) is often subject to internal and external disruptions due to the complicated nature of the development process. The advent of product lifecycle management (PLM) systems provides an IT platform to streamline NPD related processes, but the lack of approaches to effective adaptation may conceal the true value of PLM. The conventional wisdom of technology adaptation has focused on the pattern of the adaptation process. However, the collaborative work structure embedded in PLM may trigger organizational change. This study analyzes how a project team successfully adapted a PLM system to quickly create a small and low cost panel product. In light of the strategic choice framework, we suggest an integrated model of organizational change innovation and adaptive structuration theory (AST) to investigate the dynamic aspects of PLM system usage. Driven by management vision and involvement, organizational objectives were achieved through interactions between multilevel users and the modification of system features and process flows. The case study presents techniques for analyzing IT usage behavior which may present significant research opportunities regarding the potential impact of PLM systems might affect the firm's ability to manage its relationships with its partners.     

"Forced" Adoption of Innovations in Organizations: Consequences and Implications

Once organizations adopt an innovation, they may force various individuals to use it. While researchers have frequently studied perspectives of suppliers and their customers, they have sometimes neglected the important roles of those who must use the innovation when it is provided to them. S. Ram and Hyung-Shik Jung report results of their investigation of organizational members' responses when they are forced to adopt an innovation. The results suggest that even innovative individuals resist the innovation in the context of forced adoption. Product trial and repetitive usage significantly reduce innovation resistance and create favorable post-adoption evaluation (attitude and satisfaction judgments). Individuals who perceive themselves to have technical competence offer less resistance to the innovation. Further, organizational members deal with forced adoption through the use of coping mechanisms such as complaining and seeking peer help.     

Development and use of organisational climate mapping in Research and Development teams

Team climate is a construct which easily fits with organisational diagnosis and R&D effectiveness and which has been found to be readily acceptable to team leaders. This paper briefly describes the construction and use of an organisation climate instrument which was developed as a diagnostic tool for team climate characteristics in R&D, and a springboard for initiating indepth discussions with R&O team leaders. A system of feedback was developed which comprised a computerized set of plots including (1) CLIMAP (Climate MAPping) intended to depict the individual and aggregate profiles of individual perceptions along relevant climate dimensions. (2) LOCMAT (LOCation MATrix) intended to portray in a matrix form, the location of members relative to each other regarding their perception of team climate and the extent of their agreement/disagreement therewith. The development and use of the instrument and its associated form of feedback is viewed as a potential method for increasing the awareness of team members, project managers and team leaders of their work environment, and as a useful tool for initiating planned change. To date, information has been collected from more than 300 scientific and technical personnel in R&D establishments; amongst these, more specific data have been collected in 18 teams. Implications for management and also for further research are discussed.     

The Estimation of a Cusp Model to Describe the Adoption of Word for Windows*

This article revisits earlier work in this journal by Paul Herbig (1991) that proposed a catastrophe model of industrial product adoption under certain conditions. Catastrophe models are useful for modeling situations where organizations can exhibit both smooth and abrupt adoption behavior. It extends Herbig's work by focusing on organizations' adoption of new products when network externalities are an important part of the decision process, and it presents an empirical estimation of the model. Network externalities occur when firms do not want to adopt a new innovation or product unless other firms do. The reason is that they do not want to end up with an innovation that ends up not being a standard of some sort. Mistakes of this nature can be costly as the firm must invest twice and loses time relative to competitors who have not made such a mistake. However, when such externalities exist, for example with regard to technological adoptions, then normal diffusion gives way to sudden discontinuous shifts as all firms seemingly act together an move to a new technology. Since, technology is an area where the authors expect network externalities to exist, that is the focus of this article. The specific application is developed from two sets of panel data on the organizational adoptions of Microsoft's (MS) Word for Windows software by organizations that previously were using either Word for DOS or Word for Macintosh (Mac). The theoretical framework for the analysis is based on work in the economics literature on network externalities. However, the organization and new product development catastrophe model comes primarily from Herbig (1991) . The article focuses on an area of organizational adoption where relatively little empirical research has been done, namely organizational adoption “for use.” Longitudinal data provided by Techtel Corporation is used to develop the estimations. Results of the empirical analysis are consistent with the theoretical framework suggested in Herbig's article and in those found in economics and catastrophe theory literatures. This lends clear support to the idea that organizations will adopt a bandwagon‐type behavior when network externalities are present. It further suggests that in such markets, the standard S‐shaped diffusion curve is not an appropriate model for examining organizational behavior. From a managerial perspective, it means that buyers and sellers may face nonstandard diffusion curves. Instead of S‐shaped curves, the actual curves have a break or rift where sales end, and there is a sudden shift to a new product that is relatively high very early on. Clearly, for new product development (NPD), it suggest that organizations' “for‐use” purchases may be similar to regular consumers and may change rapidly from one product to another almost instantly, as in the case of the switch from vinyl records to compact discs (CDs). From an old product seller's viewpoint, the market is here today and gone tomorrow, while for the new seller it is a sudden deluge of sales requests. To put it in more everyday terms, sudden changes in adoption behavior are a September 11‐type experience for the market. It is the day the world changes.     

Experimental Test of a Q-Sort Procedure for Prioritizing R&D Projects

Abstract— In this study, fifteen managers and scientists experimented with the use of a Q-sort procedure for evaluating and prioritizing thirteen research projects. Q-sorting is a psychometric method for classifying items according to the opinions of a group of persons, and for evoking group consensus on these classifications. The procedure focuses on the rather natural individual opinion/group decision making process that must take place in project selection/evaluation. In general, the participants thought that Q-sorting was too imprecise to yield final decisions. However, progress was made toward organizational consensus, and the participants felt the procedure was valuable for facilitating scientist/scientist and the scientist-manager communications within the project evaluation process. It was therefore concluded that Q-sorting may be a valuable aid to the heuristic idea-exchange process that should accompany any formal project selection exercise. The results here suggest that Q-sorting may be a good procedure to facilitate the use of a mathematical project selection model.     

Steady state and portfolio concept in R & D management

This paper describes a new approach for closing the gap between the tools for strategic goal management and operational management in Pharmaceutical R&D. The strategic level may concern with expectation of sales, rising from new products and with total R & D budget. The operational level concerns with project selection, project and multiproject management problems, solution of project related technical problems, determination of the size of the various functions and the functional management. This new method combines the R & D project portfolio management with a steady state concept allowing the attainment of a constant number of projects under development and a continuous full use of the capacity available.     

Innovativeness among small businesses: Theory and propositions for future research

Small businesses represent the lifeblood of the economy. Variations in the innovativeness of these firms may help explain why some succeed, but many fail [Frambach, R. T. (1993). An integrated model of organizational adoption and diffusion of innovations. European Journal of Marketing, 25(5), 22-41; Nord, W. R. & Tucker, S. (1987). Implementing routine and radical innovations. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.]. To understand how small businesses develop and use innovations, a series of depth interviews were conducted with small, family-owned firms in the US and Spain. Results suggest several factors affect innovativeness, including industry-specific, firm-specific, and innovation-specific factors. The study ends with a series of propositions, potential managerial implications of the study, and suggestions for further research.     

O.R. in Research and Development—a critical review

In this paper we consider why formalized project selection systems are inappropriate to the difficulties of deciding what should constitute the R & D programme for the National Coal Board. We suggest that mostof these objections would apply to programme planning in any of the major industries generally referred to as ‘the public utilities'. We propose that the area of greatest need for O.R. work in this field is in providing a scenario of the physical characteristics of the industry in the period 10–15 years ahead and to use this scenario to indicate the relative acuteness of the technological problems the industry will face.     

Forecasting organizational adoption of high-technology product innovations separated by impact: Are traditional macro-level diffusion models appropriate?

This study examines forecasting accuracy when applying macro-level diffusion models to high-tech product innovations among organizational adopters. In addition, it explores whether the accuracy of macro-level diffusion models differs according to the impact of the new product. As a benchmark for comparison, three types of basic diffusion models are compared to three simple trend extrapolation models. The role of innovation impact in explaining forecasting accuracy is also considered. These issues are addressed by empirically testing organizational adoption data for 39 new high-tech products. Results indicate that for radical innovations the Bass model is best while for incremental innovations an external influence model is best. However, simple trend extrapolation models produced the most accurate overall forecasts. The purpose of the study is to reintroduce an important topic and give practitioners better insight into forecasting the organizational adoption of high-tech products once initial sales data becomes available.