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      Creating an R&D Strategy
      11 May 2012Working Paper Summaries

      Creating an R&D Strategy

      by Gary P. Pisano
      This note by Gary P. Pisano provides a framework for designing an R&D strategy. It starts with the simple notion that a strategy is a system approach to solving a problem. An R&D strategy is defined a coherent set of interrelated choices across decision concerning: organizational architecture, processes, people, and project portfolios. To illustrate the framework, we use examples of three pharmaceutical companies and examine how their different R&D strategies were rooted in different assumptions about the core driver of R&D performance. This suggests that the very first question to be answered in strategy development is: What's our shared understanding of the root cause of the problem we are trying to solve? Key concepts include:
      • A good strategy provides consistency, coherence, and alignment.
      • The "game plan" for an R&D organization can be broken down into 4 strategic levers: architecture, processes, people, and portfolio. Together, decisions made in each of these categories constitute the R&D strategy.
      • R&D performance results from the interaction of many different decisions and choices, including the size and location of R&D facilities, the division of labor between various groups, the choice of technologies used inside the R&D organization, the selection of personnel, the allocation of resources, the design of processes for managing projects, and other factors.
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      Paper Information

      • Full Working Paper Text
      • Working Paper Publication Date: April 2012
      • HBS Working Paper Number: 12-094
      • Faculty Unit(s): Technology and Operations Management
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      Gary P. Pisano
      Gary P. Pisano
      Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration
      Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development
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