The diverse personalities of portfolio management: variations on a theme

Summary form only given. Portfolio management is an approach for allocating resources across a set of competing projects, needs or opportunities to maximize the achievement of specified objectives. Portfolio management has become an important R&D management approach to ensure that R&D resources are deployed in support of business strategy and to maximize the return on the R&D investment. Companies that have made the effort to manage their portfolios well have seen very substantial strategic and financial benefits. However different organizations have very different portfolio management approaches. This paper features and distinctions of three fundamental approaches that we call cost-based, time-based and value-based. Although these approaches use quite different methodologies and metrics, it is possible and desirable to integrate them into a comprehensive R&D strategic management process