Int. J. Management and Decision Making, Vol. 7, No. 6, 2006 Copyright © 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. 604 A study of R&D portfolio management among UK organisations Marek Szwejczewski* and Rick Mitchell Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield MK43 0AL, England, UK Fax: +44-(0)-123-475-1806 E-mail: m.g.szwejczewski@cranfield.ac.uk E-mail: rick@flagday.freeserve.co.uk *Corresponding author Fred Lemke Henley Management College, School of Reputation and Relationships, Greenlands, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 3AU, England, UK Fax: +44 (0) 1491 571635 E-mail: fred.lemke@henleymc.ac.uk Abstract: Portfolio management is a decision process where a company’s list of active new products is constantly updated and revised. In this process, new products are evaluated, selected and prioritised, with resources being allocated accordingly. Portfolio management is considered to be an important activity, but research suggests that it may be one of the weakest areas in a company’s new product development process. While many methods have been proposed, there have been very few studies of their actual usage, especially by UK-based companies. This paper presents research into how seven UK manufacturing companies (from several industrial sectors) managed their portfolios of Research and Development (R&D) projects. Keywords: innovation; portfolio management; risk and new product development. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Szwejczewski, M., Mitchell, R. and Lemke, F. (2006) ‘A study of R&D portfolio management among UK organisations’, Int. J. Management and Decision Making, Vol. 7, No. 6, pp.604–616. Biographical notes: Marek Szwejczewski is the Director of the Best Factory Awards scheme at Cranfield School of Management. He graduated in Economics and completed his MSc in Computer Integrated Manufacturing at Cranfield in 1991. Prior to joining Cranfield he worked for eight years in marketing management. He joined the School of Management in 1991 and completed his PhD part-time in 1999. He has authored numerous papers and he has worked with a wide range of organisations, including Department of Trade and Industry and Schering. His current research interests are supplier management, innovation management, portfolio management and world-class manufacturing. Rick Mitchell is a Visiting Professor at Cranfield School of Management. He has a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Queen Mary College in London (1971). He joined