Computer assisted decision making for new product introduction investments

Business strategy is currently largely defined by the way that an organisation interacts with its stanapproach for supporting new product introduction (NPI) investments. The proposed methodology combines the existing concepts of directional policy matrix and real options are combined to establish the novel real options matrix (ROM) that enables strategic decisions regarding NPI. ROM consists of nine regions based on company's competitive capabilities and business sector prospects. To address the fuzzy boundaries between the ROM regions a fuzzy expert system is developed and validated based on a historical case study of a petrochemical industry. The results indicate that ROM can provide a reliable guide within the particular context as the strategy that the company followed matched with the ROM recommendation. The results are encouraging and support further consideration of ROM regarding NPI decisions.