The relationship between certain characteristics of industrial research proposals and their subsequent disposition

The ideas produced by three idea generation groups operating within a large industrial R&D laboratory were studied over a period of two years. Data were collected in order to relate idea dispositions by management to subjective evaluations provided by respondents representing the technical staff and to study the roles of urgency, predictability, and expected time horizon in the disposition decision. The findings are 1) a significant positive correlation was found between idea dispositions and associated subjective evaluations despite the fact that management did not know the subjective evaluations at the time the disposition decisions were made; 2) urgency was the dominant consideration in the disposition decisions, but predictability and expected time horizon were dominant in the subjective evaluations; 3) predictability and time horizon are covariants; and 4) management hedges by shelving marginal ideas. Implications for R&D management are drawn.