Managing Projects in Research and Development

Ron Basu is Director of Performance Excellence Limited and a Visiting Fellow at Henley Business School, England. He is also a Visiting Professor at SKEMA Business School, France. He specialises in Operational Excellence and Supply Chain Management and has research interests in Performance Management and Project Management. Previously he held senior management roles in blue-chip companies like GSK, GlaxoWellcome and Unilever and led global initiatives and projects in Six Sigma, ERP/MRPII, Supply Chain Re-engineering and Total Productive Maintenance. Prior to this he worked as Management Consultant with A.T. Kearney. He is the co-author of ’Total Manufacturing Solutions’, ’Quality Beyond Six Sigma’, ’Total Operations Solutions’ and ’Total Supply Chain Management’ and the author of books with titles Measuring e-Business Performance, ’Implementing Quality’, ’Implementing Six Sigma and Lean’, ’FIT SIGMA’ and ’Managing Project Supply Chains’ and ’Managing Quality in Projects’.

’Ron Basu never disappoints. His books show how to make things happen. In this book he draws on his many years as a project manager and on his teaching experience as an MBA lecturer to provide an easy to read strategy for taking a R and D project from inception through to fruition. His how to do it approach is supported by well researched case studies. Highly recommended.’ Nevan Wright JP, Auckland Institute of Studies, New Zealand ’Dr Ron Basu has delivered a highly recommended and much-needed treatise on R&D initiatives. This excellent resource is both authoritative and comprehensive offering a tried and tested approach for delivering successful R&D projects.’ Darren Dalcher, Director, National Centre for Project Management, UK ’For those needing a thorough introduction to R&D Project Management, Ron Basu provides a wealth of materials for those seeking to understand how project management is being successfully applied in R&D in larger, traditional businesses.’ Michael Cross, Chair and Co-founder, Rezatec Limited, UK ’The economic advantage of developed countries is closely tied with their ability to add value through innovation. R & D is the engine of innovation and inevitably R&D is project based. In this book Dr Basu offers a tour de force of R&D projects. The book addresses the key issues such as managing risks, managing R&D portfolios, and success criteria clearly and concisely. The case studies help to bring to life key concepts. This is an excellent book addressing a key managerial issue and I highly recommend it.’ Abby Ghobadian, co-editor of Journal of Strategy and Management and Past President of British Academy of Management (BAM) ’Few books are able to grasp the critical elements of the complex R&D process, especially in the corporate context, and it is very pleasing to see Ron Basu’s book tackling this subject with rigour and precision. The chapters are well organised and they cover the essential practicalities of the project m

• Chapter 1 Why Project Management is Essential in Research and Development; Chapter 2 Current Thinking in Managing R&D Projects; Chapter 3 Fundamentals of Project Management; Chapter 4 R&D Project Life Cycle; Chapter 5 Managing Cost, Time and Quality in R&D; Chapter 6 Managing Risks in R&D; Chapter 7 Managing R&D Portfolios; Chapter 8 R&D Project Success Criteria and Success Factors; Chapter 9 Operational Excellence Concepts in R&D Projects; Chapter 10 Case Studies of R&D Projects; Chapter 11 Making it Happen;