Värderingsmodell för Alfas forskningsprojekt

Sammanfattning: Theory regarding capital investments with low uncertainty is well developed, but theory concerning investments characterized by uncertainty is vainer. Valuation of investments with great uncertainty is of special interest for companies within research intensive businesses like medical technology, where the dialysis company Alfa functions. For a long time, Alfa was unique about its front edge competence. As a result, the company was able to operate without any direct competitors for a relatively long time. Several of Alfa’s business areas have now reached a maturity phase. This has resulted in a tougher environment or Alfa, where it is of great importance for the company to control and direct its product and technology development, and to operate according to a well defined strategy and long term goals. The master thesis originates from Alfa’s need of an objective method to compare research projects, financially as well as strategically, in order to improve the quality of prioritization decisions. There is also a need for a reasonable estimation of the total value of the research portfolio, an estimation that can be used as an indication for potential future investors. Purpose – The purpose is to describe the procedure followed when prioritizing projects within the research department in Lund, and to develop a model for strategic and financial valuation of research projects. Methodology – The study was in the beginning of an explorative character, as focus was to collect as much relevant information about the area of subject as possible. The explorative investigation was followed by a descriptive analysis, where the emphasis was to describe the current situation at Alfa. The sources mainly consisted of personal interviews, within and outside of the company, and printed sources as literature, articles and internal documents. Results – The research department at Alfa is currently not following any systematical procedure while prioritizing projects. The company has recently gone through structural changes and, due to this, no clearly communicated business- and technology strategy has been available. This has negatively affected the research work. During the course of the study Alfa has however developed a business- and technology strategy, which hopefully can be used as a support for the research department while making decisions about resource and project prioritizations. The descriptive and explorative parts of the study resulted in a model for strategic and financial valuation of research projects. The model is meant to be used as a systematical procedure and basis of discussion when prioritizing project.