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Värderingsmodell för Alfas forskningsprojekt

Karlsson, Niklas and Lind, Elsie (2009) MIO920
Production Management
Abstract
Theory regarding capital investments with low
uncertainty is well developed, but theory concerning
investments characterized by uncertainty is vainer.
Valuation of investments with great uncertainty is of
special interest for companies within research
intensive businesses like medical technology, where
the dialysis company Alfa functions.
For a long time, Alfa was unique about its front edge
competence. As a result, the company was able to
operate without any direct competitors for a
relatively long time. Several of Alfa’s business areas
have now reached a maturity phase. This has
resulted in a tougher environment or Alfa, where it is
of great importance for the company to control and
direct its product and technology... (More)
Theory regarding capital investments with low
uncertainty is well developed, but theory concerning
investments characterized by uncertainty is vainer.
Valuation of investments with great uncertainty is of
special interest for companies within research
intensive businesses like medical technology, where
the dialysis company Alfa functions.
For a long time, Alfa was unique about its front edge
competence. As a result, the company was able to
operate without any direct competitors for a
relatively long time. Several of Alfa’s business areas
have now reached a maturity phase. This has
resulted in a tougher environment or Alfa, where it is
of great importance for the company to control and
direct its product and technology development, and
to operate according to a well defined strategy and
long term goals. The master thesis originates from
Alfa’s need of an objective method to compare
research projects, financially as well as strategically,
in order to improve the quality of prioritization
decisions. There is also a need for a reasonable
estimation of the total value of the research
portfolio, an estimation that can be used as an
indication for potential future investors.
Purpose – The purpose is to describe the procedure followed
when prioritizing projects within the research
department in Lund, and to develop a model for
strategic and financial valuation of research projects.
Methodology – The study was in the beginning of an explorative
character, as focus was to collect as much relevant
information about the area of subject as possible.
The explorative investigation was followed by a
descriptive analysis, where the emphasis was to
describe the current situation at Alfa. The sources
mainly consisted of personal interviews, within and
outside of the company, and printed sources as
literature, articles and internal documents.
Results – The research department at Alfa is currently not
following any systematical procedure while
prioritizing projects. The company has recently gone
through structural changes and, due to this, no
clearly communicated business- and technology
strategy has been available. This has negatively
affected the research work. During the course of the
study Alfa has however developed a business- and
technology strategy, which hopefully can be used as
a support for the research department while making
decisions about resource and project prioritizations.
The descriptive and explorative parts of the study
resulted in a model for strategic and financial
valuation of research projects. The model is meant
to be used as a systematical procedure and basis of
discussion when prioritizing project. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Karlsson, Niklas and Lind, Elsie
supervisor
organization
course
MIO920
year
type
M1 - University Diploma
subject
other publication id
09/5325
language
English
id
1978380
date added to LUP
2011-06-16 16:13:17
date last changed
2011-06-20 12:42:16
@misc{1978380,
  abstract     = {{Theory regarding capital investments with low
uncertainty is well developed, but theory concerning
investments characterized by uncertainty is vainer.
Valuation of investments with great uncertainty is of
special interest for companies within research
intensive businesses like medical technology, where
the dialysis company Alfa functions.
For a long time, Alfa was unique about its front edge
competence. As a result, the company was able to
operate without any direct competitors for a
relatively long time. Several of Alfa’s business areas
have now reached a maturity phase. This has
resulted in a tougher environment or Alfa, where it is
of great importance for the company to control and
direct its product and technology development, and
to operate according to a well defined strategy and
long term goals. The master thesis originates from
Alfa’s need of an objective method to compare
research projects, financially as well as strategically,
in order to improve the quality of prioritization
decisions. There is also a need for a reasonable
estimation of the total value of the research
portfolio, an estimation that can be used as an
indication for potential future investors.
Purpose – The purpose is to describe the procedure followed
when prioritizing projects within the research
department in Lund, and to develop a model for
strategic and financial valuation of research projects.
Methodology – The study was in the beginning of an explorative
character, as focus was to collect as much relevant
information about the area of subject as possible.
The explorative investigation was followed by a
descriptive analysis, where the emphasis was to
describe the current situation at Alfa. The sources
mainly consisted of personal interviews, within and
outside of the company, and printed sources as
literature, articles and internal documents.
Results – The research department at Alfa is currently not
following any systematical procedure while
prioritizing projects. The company has recently gone
through structural changes and, due to this, no
clearly communicated business- and technology
strategy has been available. This has negatively
affected the research work. During the course of the
study Alfa has however developed a business- and
technology strategy, which hopefully can be used as
a support for the research department while making
decisions about resource and project prioritizations.
The descriptive and explorative parts of the study
resulted in a model for strategic and financial
valuation of research projects. The model is meant
to be used as a systematical procedure and basis of
discussion when prioritizing project.}},
  author       = {{Karlsson, Niklas and Lind, Elsie}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Värderingsmodell för Alfas forskningsprojekt}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}