How Not to Select Ideas for Innovations: A Critique of the Scoring Method

We are interested in the problem of evaluating and selecting one or more ideas to be pursued in the idea stage of the innovation process. The so-called scoring method, which is based on Multi-Attribute Utility Theory is very commonly used for this task. We know of many corporations that select their innovation projects using this technique. We present original arguments from three different sources that illustrate some of the severe difficulties associated with this method: theoretical considerations, simulation experiments and laboratory studies. We conclude that the scoring method should not be used for this task and consider instead the little-known lexicographic approach, which does not suffer from the disadvantages of the scoring method. We suggest that the lexicographic method may be the method of choice for the given application.