Abstract

SEIJO, Gustavo L; FRESSOLI, Mariano  and  BLUGERMAN, Leopoldo. What makes a techno-scientific development fashionable and another one out of date?: A comparative study of two BioSidus projects. Rev. cienc. tecnol. [online]. 2016, n.26, pp.60-74. ISSN 1851-7587.

This article presents the comparative historical dynamics of two projects of BioSidus, an Argentinian bio-technology firm. These projects are, on the one hand, the Pharmaceutical Farm - a promising project which started in the 90s and raised high hopes within the company since it aimed at producing a number of proteins (and, therefore, biosimilar drugs) through transgenic animal farming. On the other hand, the second project under analysis is the Gene Therapy whereby an injected plasmid (a small DNA molecule) contributed to the re-construction of the internal walls of the blood vessels of a patient (ischemia). The analysis is focused on three different perspectives on the decision making process and how these perspectives can play a role along the trajectories of these projects. This article ponders over what conceptualizations on uncertainty, planning and decision making process constitute better grounds to manage uncertain and difficult-to-estimate R&D projects. This article also approaches the managerial practice related to each perspective of the decision making process. The discussion of the paper is centred on uncertainty and risk and not on a variety of biases and criteria lying behind a specific decision. This study casts strong doubt on the potential of some well-established decision making perspectives for the management of R&D projects.

Keywords : R&D management; Decision-making process; Sense-making process; Techno-scientific development; Non-measurable uncertainty.

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