The diverse personalities of portfolio management: variations on a theme

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. However different organizations, both users and consultants, have very different portfolio management approaches. This paper identifies the key features and distinctions of three fundamental approaches that the authors call cost-based, time-based and value-based. Although these approaches individually use quite different methodologies and metrics, it is possible and desirable to integrate them into one comprehensive R&D strategic management process