Managers are increasingly concerned with the typical methods available
for organizational performance measurement and control. Research into
performance measurement, within the field of innovation management, has
been variously approached through frameworks for performance measurement
in general (for example, the Balanced Scorecard by Norton and Kaplan),
R&D performance management, and surveys on in-use Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs). It is striking, however, that
almost no research has focused explicitly on the performance measurement
of research activities, or indeed tried to develop a systematic approach
to setting KPIs for specific research goals.
This work, in co-operation with ABB Research, Deutsche Telekom AG
Laboratories, EMC2 Advanced Technology Solutions, IBM Research, Intel
Research, Microsoft Research,
Philips Research, and SAP Research, develops a systematic approach to
performance measurement for industrial research organizations in
innovation-driven companies.
The following questions are addressed:
(1) Which research goals do research departments have?
(2) Which KPIs do they use to monitor the achievement of these goals?
(3) Is there a systematic best-practice approach to selecting KPIs for
performance goals?
The outcome is a complete set of eleven performance clusters, such as
the transfer of research results to the development or other
organizational departments, and each cluster has its own set of KPIs.
The eleven clusters are: Technology Transfer, Future Business
Opportunities, Technical Achievements, Intellectual Property,
Operational Excellence, Talent Pool, Image, Publications, Presence in
Scientific Community, Collaboration with Academia, Collaboration with
Partners and Customers.
This work led to the creation of the Institute for Industrial Research
Performance Management that provides ongoing research and insights for
managers of industrial research organizations.
