Title: Using a decision support tool for R&D portfolio management: going beyond initial expectations

Authors: Peter Bou Saba; Stefan Brouwers

Addresses: IAE Montpellier School of Management, 2 Place Eugène Bataillon, 34090 Montpellier, France ' Efficient Innovation, 55 avenue Clément Ader, 34170 Castelnau-le-Lez, France

Abstract: This article studies the way in which a decision support tool (DST) is used by external management consultants in R&D portfolio management assignments. On this basis, this paper investigates a French consulting firm and one of its clients. The findings show that the DST, when used by consultants, tends to legitimise already-made decisions. Furthermore, the tool that defines which project is eligible to the French research tax credit came as a solution to homogenise the different interpretations of multiple consultants working for the same client.

Keywords: legitimation; decision support tools; DST; R&D portfolio; consulting firms; France; research tax credit; CIR; portfolio management; external consultants; management consultants.

DOI: 10.1504/EMJM.2016.081041

EuroMed Journal of Management, 2016 Vol.1 No.3, pp.224 - 236

Received: 19 Jan 2016
Accepted: 26 Jan 2016
Published online: 19 Dec 2016 *

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