The effectiveness of multi-criteria decision aid methodology: A case study of R&D management

Abstract

Purpose

The innovation expected by clients is identified as a business success factor of industrial companies in the current decade and the accountability of it is primarily attributable to Research and Development (R&D), which makes it a strategic topic for studies on the decision-making process. In light of this, the purpose of this paper is to present a decision aiding methodology used to support R&D management in the technology-based company, specialised in refrigeration solutions and world leader in the hermetic compressor market.

Design/methodology/approach

It is an exploratory study and has deductive-inductive logic and uses a quail-quantitative approach. It uses the Knowledge Development Process Constructivist (ProKnow-C) to systemically revise the literature surrounding the theme in order to identify research opportunities in the subject and adopts the Multi-Criteria Decision Aiding Constructivist (MCDA-C) methodology as an instrument of organisational performance evaluation to fulfil the research opportunities identified.

Findings

In the theoretical aspect, this research fulfilled the opportunities observed in recent and qualified literature about R&D performance evaluation. The paper also offers practical implications for the performance evaluation in R&D, since the methodology allowed the R&D manager to build knowledge to understand the consequences of his decisions in the criteria deemed important by himself.

Originality/value

The importance of this work covers academic and practical interests, as it documents the application of MCDA-C and increases knowledge concerning R&D management, whilst developing a recurrent tool of decision aiding in the context of the company studied.

Citation

Marafon, A.D., Ensslin, L., Lacerda, R.T.d.O. and Ensslin, S.R. (2015), "The effectiveness of multi-criteria decision aid methodology: A case study of R&D management", European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 86-109. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-10-2013-0106