Tuesday, April 16 - 8:30am - 9:30am
Proactive Management of Project Risks

Read a sample chapter of Preston's soon to be published book, Proactive Risk Management: Controlling Uncertainty in Product Development [Sample Chapter]

Preston G. Smith
New Product Dynamics
Co-author of Developing Products in Half the time
and Proactive Risk Management: Controlling Uncertainty in Product Development

Managing project risks effectively means identifying them early on and working actively to prevent them, since opportunities to deal with a risk become progressively scarcer as the project proceeds. However, peering into the future to discover what might befall a project isn’t so easy! This presentation provides a process for proactively managing project risks based on a helpful model of a risk that helps you to assess a risk and act effectively against it.

Preston will cover:

• Illustrations of project risks (few of them are technical ones)
• A very helpful model of a risk
• Risk management as a step-by-step process
• The vital importance of putting facts behind your risks
• How to make tough choices on which risks get managed
• The many options for managing risks

About Preston Smith: Preston’s consulting and training has enabled clients on twenty countries to accelerate and strengthen their product development practices. Before founding New Product Dynamics in1986, he was a staff consultant with a diversified $2.5 billion manufacturer and was charged with accelerating the development of products as diverse as door locks and electronic assembly equipment. He has applied his techniques to products ranging from packaged goods, footwear, and furniture to medical electronics, semiconductors, aircraft, and software. In addition to publishing numerous articles on the techniques of speeding up product development, Preston is author (with Donald Reinertsen) of Developing Products in Half the Time, and co-author (with Guy Merritt) of a forthcoming book on product development project risk management to be published by Productivity Press this year.

Wednesday, April 17 - 8:30am - 9:30am
The Real Options Solution to Project Valuation

F. Peter Boer
President and CEO, Tiger Scientific
and adjunct professor, Yale University
Author of The Real Options Solution: Finding Total Value in a High-Risk World

Valuation of a new project proposal is the initial step in managing and controlling its risks. Discounted cash flow (DCF)methods are the gold standard in financial valuation. Unfortunately, technologists have learned that DCF systematically underestimates the value of R&D programs. Interest in Real Options is growing because it recognizes that management has flexibility in executing plans to which resources are yet to be committed, and value exists that cannot be captured by DCF alone. This value can be huge. R&D managers have sensed this point intuitively for years, but real options theory gives it quantitative standing. A core insight is that plans – R&D plans or business plans – are options. The consequences of this insight are radical, because options are valued by different algorithms than DCF. The idea is powerful because it affords a valuation method that applies equally to a traditional "old economy" company, and risky new startups. It will work whether the company is making money or not. And it provides a new framework for the perplexing problem of how to value intellectual capital, including patents, research portfolios, skilled R&D departments, and strategic partnerships. Yet, the method is entirely consistent with accepted tools of corporate finance.

About Peter Boer: Dr. Boer is President and CEO of Tiger Scientific Inc., a firm providing consulting and investment services in the technology arena. Current or recent clients include United Technologies, Atofina, Crompton Corporation, Purdue Pharmaceutical, W.R. Grace & Co., UOP, Hydro-Quebec, Diversa, Innotech, and Petroleos de Venezuela, SA. He is a frequent speaker at technical conferences and recently keynoted the Annual Meeting of the Department of Commerce’s Advanced Technology Program. He is an expert in the management of large technology organizations and the financial aspects of R&D. Dr. Boer is the author of The Valuation of Technology, a book published by Wiley in 1999, and his second book, The Real Options Solution; Finding Total Value in a High-risk World will be published by Wiley in February, 2002.

Supporting Organization:

Publication Sponsor:

BONUS!

Conference participants receive:

A FREE copy of Proactive Risk Management: Controlling Uncertainty in Product Development, the new book by Preston Smith and Guy Merritt! [Sample Chapter]

- PLUS -

Complimenatry one-year subscription to the MIT Sloan Management Review