An Analysis of Organizing Process of R&D Projects

Multi-agent Simulation and Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the organizing process of research projects, which affect the performance of research and development (R&D) crucially, by using agent-based simulation and case study. We develop a multi-agent simulation model that contains two types of R&D style: Japanese pharmaceutical companies' style and Merck's style. Simulation result proves that the senior managers observed in Merck possessing strong communication capabilities, whom we call “HWCM (Heavy-Weight Communication Manager)" in this paper, enhance initial start-up of projects. Furthermore, we study the case of Merck again and try to show the effect of HWCM on high R&D performance of Merck.