A real options based support system to open innovation

Abstract

Pharmaceutical R&D process (PR&DP) has been deeply investigated by different streams of literature; the interest is due to the strategic implication of the related decisions undertaken. The PR&DP has been revolutionised by the biotech advent and as a consequence R&D managers cannot avoid to consider Open Innovation paradigm during this decision process. Starting from a Real Option optimization model available in literature, the paper aims at proposing a decision support system (DSS) able to suggest the candidate products to be included in the best R&D portfolio varying input parameters (resilient products), to provide a products Pareto analysis that aims at individuating the products for which it is worthwhile to acquire a deeper input parameters knowledge and to draw what if rules. The proposed DSS has been applied to a numerical example available in literature and research findings show interesting managerial and academic implications.