Selection of R&D performance measures from the whole company's point of view

Summary form only given. Selecting suitable measures for R&D is a very challenging task for the decision-makers in various organizations. There are several factors influencing the selection of measures from the whole company's standpoint. The aim of this study is to clarify the essential major factors influencing the selection of suitable R&D performance measures. This study focuses on product development. In this study we examine in-process, output and outcome measurement and feedback, i.e. pre evaluation of the R&D process is not discussed. The study deals with the issue at corporate or SBU level, mainly from the standpoint of an industrial manufacturing company operating in the business-to-business environment. In this study we aim to build a more comprehensive view of the major factors. The study has been done in cooperation with five industrial companies, which all have a strong position in the world markets of their own product segments. The analyses of the study are based on wide survey to the literature and interviews of the studied companies. The analyses concentrate on comparisons of the existent and hoped-for measures of the studied companies and measures and aspects from earlier studies. In this study we determine five major factors for selecting suitable R&D measures at company level: corporate strategy and R&D objectives based on the strategy; recognition of R&D impact chain; critical success factors of R&D; purpose of R&D performance measurement; and company-wide R&D contingency factors