Multidisciplinary R&D project success in small firms: The role of multiproject status and project management experience

R&D projects in small biotechnology firms frequently involve knowledge from multiple technical fields and research in different problem domains. An increase in project knowledge scope, defined as the number of technical fields an R&D project covers, can be challenging for resource-constrained small firms. These firms often rely primarily on their principal investigators (PIs), who act as heavyweight project managers in guiding project ideas to successful R&D outcomes. PIs also work concurrently on multiple projects, a strategy to promote learning across projects. To better understand how small firms PIs manage projects with high knowledge scope, our research assembles and analyzes a data set of 1374 R&D projects conducted by 933 small firms in the context of U.S. Small Business Administration awards. Results, after accounting for endogeneity, suggest a negative association between project knowledge scope and project success, which we measured using patent forward citation counts. We also find that a PI's multiproject status negatively moderates (i.e., amplifies) this association, while project management experience positively moderates (i.e., weakens) it. A follow-up post hoc analysis suggests that a shared problem domain is a key contingency for the moderation effects of both multiproject status and project management experience. Taken together, our research offers insights on how to effectively manage R&D projects in resource-constrained small firms.

Automated summary

R&D projects in small biotechnology firms often involve knowledge from multiple technical fields and research in different problem domains. Resource-constrained small firms face challenges when the project knowledge scope increases. The principal investigators (PIs) play a crucial role in managing project ideas and promoting learning across projects. This research explores how small firms' PIs manage projects with high knowledge scope and finds a negative association between project knowledge scope and project success, which is amplified by the multiproject status of PIs and weakened by project management experience. The shared problem domain is identified as a key contingency for these moderation effects.