Identification and Prioritization of Success Criteria in Research and Development Projects of Iran Petroleum Industry Research Institute Using Fuzzy AHP Approach

Industrial companies face stiff competition in global markets nowadays, so they invest in R&D projects to survive in the market and to reach the competitive advantage, but few of them succeed. To evaluate the success of R&D projects and strive to improve them, unique criteria are required that are tailored to the specific characteristics of those projects. The purpose of this research is to identify and prioritize the success criteria of R&D projects in Iran's Petroleum Industry Research Institute as the largest research institute in Iran. At first, the criteria for success in research and development projects were identified through a literature review as well as semi-structured interviews with experts from the Petroleum Industry Research Institute and then prioritized using the Fuzzy analytical hierarchical process. According to the results, 6 main criteria and 17 sub-criteria were identified for the success of these projects, which three criteria including technical, organizational and technology-knowledge among the main criteria and four sub-criteria including user satisfaction, creditworthiness, compliance with employer requirements and Impact on business organization among the identified sub-criteria, acquired the highest priority.