Globalization of markets and new business practices are prompting high-tech firms to
reconsider their competitive strategy. The increasing complexity of technologies in
addition to shorter product life cycles are also forcing firms to rely on R&D as a source
of strategy. More importantly, firms are inclined to evaluate their technologies from a
portfolio’s perspective in which a set or a sub-set of R&D projects is evaluated together,
in relation to each other. Portfolio techniques can help strategic managers in evaluating
whether a portfolio of products is adequate from the perspective of long-term corporate
growth and profitability. Obviously, when R&D projects are evaluated relative to one
another, technical capability management of such projects must be carried out
concurrently. In this paper, R&D Project Portfolio Matrix is used as a tool for
analyzing a portfolio of R&D projects by linking competitive advantages of a firm to
benefits these projects may provide to customers. Examples of batteries for electric
vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are provided to illustrate how such
matrix is used, and what are some of the implications for innovation management of
such projects
