About the Book
Research and Development is the vehicle by which organizations and economies create opportunity, innovation and secure a stream of future products and services.These outcomes are all critically important sources of sustainability in a world that is changing faster than most companies can keep up.The challenge behind them is the fundamental unpredictability of R&D; which is why effective project management is so important.
Ron Basu's Managing Projects in Research and Development explains how and why project management can provide a means of helping to plan, organise and control multi-disciplinary research activities without stifling innovation.
Combining research with practical examples and experience from a career that has included blue chip organizations such as GSK, GlaxoWellcome and Unilever, Ron Basu offers a rigorous guide to the fundamentals of R&D project management including project lifecycle management, risk management, cost, time quality and other success measures as well as the keys to operational excellence in this complicated world.
Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface; Why project management is essential in research and development; Current thinking in managing R&D projects; Fundamentals of project management; R&D project life cycle; Managing cost, time and quality in R&D; Managing risks in R&D; Managing R&D portfolios; R&D project success criteria and success factors; Operational excellence concepts in R&D projects; Case studies of R&D projects; Making it happen; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.
About the Author :
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’.
Review :
'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 management and the R&D process, enabling an understanding of the latter to be firmly embedded in the realities of project management. This book addresses key issues directly, illustrating the arguments with some interesting examples of corporate activity in this sphere. The book will be very useful for project managers and senior executives designing meaningful strategies for corporate projects, as well as government agencies looking at new ways to facilitate local and global projects. I also see this book as being particularly valuable for graduate students of management in general and project management in particular.' Jay Mitra, University of Essex, UK 'Without the tools and skills of project management there is no way to lead and finish complex projects starting from the construction of buildings, building infrastructure and production plant or introduction of products to the market. ... In a situation when R&D has a role to bring products to the market, or in a situation when basic research needs to be lead through limited time and resources the skills and methodology of project management and risk assessment play a significant role. If one needs to lead complex activities from any aspect of R&D, this book by Ron Basu needs to be treated the same way as any scientific paper from a field of particular research.' Ernest Mestrovic, Senior Director, TEVA TAPI R&D 'Project Management in R&D is an area that is not well written about, needing tools different from traditional project management. Ron Basu's approach is easy to follow, and provides an excellent approach. The book is welcome.' Rodney Turner, SKEMA Business School, France and Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Project Management
`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 management and the R&D process, enabling an understanding of the latter to be firmly embedded in the realities of project management. This book addresses key issues directly, illustrating the arguments with some interesting examples of corporate activity in this sphere. The book will be very useful for project managers and senior executives designing meaningful strategies for corporate projects, as well as government agencies looking at new ways to facilitate local and global projects. I also see this book as being particularly valuable for graduate students of management in general and project management in particular.’
Jay Mitra, University of Essex, UK
`Without the tools and skills of project management there is no way to lead and finish complex projects starting from the construction of buildings, building infrastructure and production plant or introduction of products to the market. … In a situation when R&D has a role to bring products to the market, or in a situation when basic research needs to be lead through limited time and resources the skills and methodology of project management and risk assessment play a significant role. If one needs to lead complex activities from any aspect of R&D, this book by Ron Basu needs to be treated the same way as any scientific paper from a field of particular research.’
Ernest Mestrovic, Senior Director, TEVA TAPI R&D
`Project Management in R&D is an area that is not well written about, needing tools different from traditional project management. Ron Basu's approach is easy to follow, and provides an excellent approach. The book is welcome.’
Rodney Turner, SKEMA Business School, France and Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Project Management
