The time-cost tradeoff in Research and Development: A review

This paper provides a literature review which describes the current state of knowledge regarding the tradeoff between completion time and development cost in Research and Development projects. A review of the theoretical literature suggests a strictly convex curve, with more severe compressions of project duration being purchased at increasingly high cost. Empirical results support this theory, showing, for example, that a one percent reduction in project duration may increase project cost by one to two percent.