R&D project selection: Behavior and practice in a newly industrializing country

An empirical study is presented on the practices of research and development management with special emphasis on the project selection behavior in Korea. Based on a review of literature pertaining to the R&D project selection, a survey framework was first generated. The data were collected from 73 laboratories of Korean private companies through a structured questionnaire, via a mail survey supplemented by some telephone interviews. As expected, the usage of formal models in R&D project selection are considerably limited in Korea. The findings, however, suggest that the formal models utilized by the research laboratories are varied distinctively according to research types. Exploratory and supportive R&D projects are selected by using screening models, while high-risk, new business development projects are selected by using evaluation models. For the selection of exploratory and supportive R&D projects, the major decision makers are laboratory directors, and the important decision criteria are technical factors. On the other hand, the major decision makers for the high-risk new business development projects come from the top management of firms, and they consider the market factors important as well as strategic factors. Several aspects of idea generation and collection for the R&D project selection are also presented.