Erkka Jalonen Portfolio Decision Making in Innovation Management

of Master's Thesis Abstract Portfolio decisions in innovation management are characterized by intangibility, complexity and future orientation. In contrast to concrete conventional selection problems with tangible alternatives, this creates additional requirements for portfolio decision making methods and software. There exist many decision analytic tools for portfolio decision making, and many of them have even been successfully adopted in companies and other organizations. However, methods and corresponding software support that meet the needs of innovation management exercises are scarce or often inadequate. In this Thesis, we first introduce some applications of portfolio decision making in innovation management, such as selecting a product or a research portfolio, or creating strategic priorities. Second, we identify characteristic requirements for methodological support, and benchmark existing methods and software in view of these standards. Third, we design and implement a decision support system employing complementary methods that are deemed favorable: Robust Portfolio Modeling and bubble charts. The software also introduces novel insights, for instance, into improving analysis communication. Finally, we assess the applicability of the decision support system in view of an exercise where it was employed to support the development of the strategic research agenda for the Association of Packaging Industry in Finland. Technology. I wish to thank the instructor of the thesis, Lic.Sc. Juuso Liesiö and other member of our research and software team for making this possible. Thank you Antti, Jarno and Jussi for your contribution to the software development, and thank you Ville for employing the software in the research agenda development exercise. My deep gratitude goes to the supervisor of this Thesis, a teacher and a work colleague, Professor Ahti Salo. I thank you for the valuable feedback and sharing your insights and expertise along the way.