Observations on the measurement of R&D productivity: a case study

Recent concerns over national and corporate competitiveness have stimulated a renewed interest in the measurement of R&D productivity. However, the complexity of measurement problems in R&D organizations has resulted in a situation where there is a scarcity of generally accepted techniques. The authors review the major measurement issues connected with R&D productivity and presents the results of a case study to develop a R&D productivity measurement system. They describe the process of designing such a system for a high-tech product-development organization, and also provide a reduced list of ten R*D productivity indicators for ongoing monitoring purposes.< >