Managing R&D as an opportunity center

R&D labs are expected to create future product/market opportunities, yet investment proposals with this objective can fail to win support because earnings cannot be predicted to satisfy a net-present-value analysis. To give financial credibility, a focus on core competence has been suggested. The author integrates these concepts by redrawing the boundaries of R&D responsibility to advocate an organizational role of an opportunity center. Where a profit center strives to maximize profits, and a cost center strives to minimize costs, an opportunity center strives to maximize the upside potential of an R&D investment aimed at future opportunities