The development of simplified technology roadmapping for use by Japanese chemical companies

The creation of new businesses is crucial for an enterprise’s sustainable growth. An improvement in management methods for reinforcing R&D capabilities is an urgent concern for any technology-based enterprise. Among many studies of new management theories and methodologies, technology roadmapping, for consideration of future prospects, has come into the spotlight. The Japanese Government released a report entitled “Strategic Technology Roadmap” in 2005, and has been attempting to diffuse roadmapping, by reviewing roadmaps annually in collaboration with academia and industry. However, responses by major Japanese chemical companies to our inquiries indicated that they are reluctant to adopt technology roadmapping, although they are interested in the concept . The reasons for this hesitation are: doubts about the results, complicated explanations about the procedures to be employed, and lots of time required to come up with effective plans. Thus, referring to Rogers’ theory of “Diffusion of Innovation”, we have proposed a “simplified half-day course” as a customized roadmapping method, by combining the conventional roadmapping method with KJ method, which is already popular among researchers in Japanese companies, as an idea creation method. Some workshops, with around 100 researchers involved, have been conducted in the corporate laboratories of a major Japanese chemical company to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method. It has been confirmed that the new method is a useful tool for strategic mid-term R&D planning.