Identification and Prioritisation of Risk Factors in R&D Projects Based on an R&D Process Model

Abstract

Although the importance of risk management and failure management has been emphasized in many organizations for sustainable development, most of the related studies have dealt with manufacturing or service processes, rather than R&D processes. Since R&D projects have high uncertainty in schedule and the quality of output, more attention should be paid to manage the risks of R&D activities. Thus, this paper proposes a systemic approach to performing R&D failure and risk management in the R&D process. To these ends, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is employed, and is modified to meet the specific features of R&D activities with a stage-gate model that can identify the failure modes in each stage of the R&D process model. In addition, a process to prioritize the risks of R&D failure is suggested to support a decision-making process in R&D management, by applying the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL). The proposed approach is applied to a case of R&D process of a software development company, in order to illustrate its validity. This paper can help R&D managers to identify and cope with the risks in the R&D process by employing a systematic method.