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Volume 1 | Issue 1 | September 2005 | Management Roundtable Website |
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Issue One Contents: 1-1
MVP
Award Winners Deliver R&D Value-Add
1-2
Key R&D Effectiveness Metrics 1-3 What is R&D Value? - Senior Management's View
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1-3
What is R&D Value? Senior
Management’s View
To get a better understanding of what constitutes R&D value, we decided to explore the MVP winners’ nominations and endorsements. What do the winners’ bosses value? What do their companies value? What really made these winners stand out? In the case of Boeing’s Duane Oda, value comes in the form of market-driven innovation and enterprise-wide alignment. Duane has not only used strategic road-mapping to guide portfolio investment decisions, but to gain cross-functional alignment both internally and externally. Duane reports to D. David Anderson, Director, Product Development, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, who says "Duane’s high level of performance makes him a valuable asset to the entire Boeing enterprise." For Seshu Seshasai of Textron Fastening Systems, R&D value includes the ability to drive change and increase the rate of market-accepted products. What does the president of his company think? Rick Clayton says"…Seshu has made and continues to make significant contributions to Textron Fastening Systems and to Textron Corporation. His leadership of our Engineering / R&D activity, which he has completely re-engineered, has greatly improved our ability to drive for market-accepted new products...." At Dow Chemical, the technology leading edge and impact of products on quality of life are clear and important values. As Romeo Kreinberg, Senior VP, Plastics, Dow Chemical says of winner Kurt Swogger "Kurt’s leadership in Dow is crucial to maintain the technology leading edge for the US plastics industry….the technologies and products developed by Kurt during his last 14 years tenure as the head of R&D...continue having significant impact to the quality of life." Finally, winner John Cordes at National Semiconductor has said his senior management views R&D (rather than acquisitions) as the way to grow the business. Others say of John that “National Semiconductor has gotten ahead because of his expertise.” For National, the value of R&D overall is business growth. John contributes by spearheading efforts that boost R&D performance and product revenue while senior management engages the whole corporation making it clear that NPD is important." -- For news releases and additional information, visit the MVP Awards Press Center. |
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© Copyright 2005 by Management Roundtable, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
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While financial
performance and productivity can be measured, qualitative R&D value is another
story. It goes beyond numbers -- and includes many subjective,
intangible, and often ill-defined factors, making it tricky to measure
and even harder to achieve.