RESEARCH ON HOW TO DEVELOP RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES USING THE SOFT SYSTEMS-APPROACH

To motivate researchers and increase productivity of research and deve lopment activities in corporate entities, it is necessary to start by drawing up a R&D strategy. This strategy must be understood and shared by all researchers so that research and development activities can be conducted in the direction of that strategy. Using a soft systems app roach, the authors have developed a method allowing the drawing up of strategies that can be shared and applied easily. The authors further suggest means to modify this method to fit the needs of different type s of companies.