by David Matheson and James E. Matheson
Harvard Business School Press

Why do some firms continually make poor R&D decisions while others can deliver a stream of successful products and services? According to the Mathesons, successful firms have internalized the nine interlocking principles of smart R&D--the building blocks of a corporate culture that emphasize making the right strategic decisions at the right times, and aligning organizational practices to support these decisions and sustain their results. The nine principles include embracing uncertainty, opening information flows, and encouraging systems thinking. Once in place, these values enable companies to make appropriate choices about their R&D planning, portfolio management, and project strategies. The authors stress the importance of evaluating trade-offs, investigating alternatives, and getting buy-in across functions to ensure that decisions will be viable from both technological and managerial perspectives. They use best practice examples from companies including General Motors, Pilkington Glass, and BankOne of Ohio to demonstrate that the methods used to enrich R&D planning can be applied more broadly to create, in effect, the smart organization.

by John Celona and Peter McNamee

NEW FOURTH EDITION. Decision Analysis has, for decades, been the most powerful method available for making decisions under conditions of uncertainty, e.g., new business strategies and new product launches. In this timely book, business consultants McNamee and Celona set forth the practical application of decision analysis for business decision-makers and those who support them. The book clearly illustrates the need for coupling decision process with analysis to create quality decisions. Includes cases and discussion questions. The Fourth Edition was updated and published in 2005. The first edition of this book was published in 1988. Since then it has been used by management and professionals in large and small companies throughout the world to educate management and staff members in Decision Analysis, a major application of Decision Science. The authors, experienced management consultants, have worked for decades with the founders of Decision Analysis at Stanford University, Strategic Decisions Group and clients throughout the world in the application of Decision Analysis to a broad range of strategic problems. This book captures both the theory of Decision Analysis as well as its application in the real world in a highly readable, practical manner.

For orders of 5 or fewer books please go to www.amazon.com and look for the seller "Strategic Decisions Group". For bulk orders please contact kmatsunaga@sdg.com.