Measuring R&D Performance

OVERVIEW:The growing acceptance of a need to measure R&D performance is in contrast to a lack of a systematic process for determining appropriate measurements. The search for appropriate R&D performance measurements has been akin to the search for the Holy Grail. In contrast, the authors contend that R&D is too complex a subject for a few measurements to satisfy all needs. However, if R&D is viewed as a process, performance measurements can be effectively determined. The framework proposed in this paper provides a quality-based approach that considers the R&D process elements for measurement to be people–process–output–internal customers–external customers–society. After a market-driven objective is determined, it can be decided whether to track internal performance, performance improvement, competitor assessment, benchmarking, or some other aspect of R&D activities. Then, the need is to determine which measurements to focus on in each of the elements of the R&D process. The few key measurements can then be sought from among many to satisfy the market-driven objective.