Patent ID: 7627494

Claim:
A method of modeling quantitative risk or return as a function of a plurality of qualitative measures of maturity, the method being performed by execution of computer-readable program code by at least one processor of at least one computer system the method comprising: determining, using at least one of the processors, a probability distribution of risk or return for each of a plurality of risk values, the probability distribution assigning a respective probability to each of a plurality of different risks or returns, the probability distribution reflecting an uncertainty in the risk or return, wherein the plurality of risk values are ordered from a lowest risk value to a highest risk value; assigning, using at least one of the processors, a qualitative measure of maturity to each of the plurality of probability distributions based upon a respective risk value to thereby generate a model of quantitative risk or return as a function of the plurality of measures of maturity, wherein the measures of maturity are ordered from a highest measure of maturity to a lowest measure of maturity, and wherein assigning the plurality of measures of maturity comprises assigning a higher measure of maturity to a probability distribution for a lower risk value; and generating, using at least one of the processors, a model of a monetary measure for a good as a function of at least one qualitative measure of maturity for at least one technology associated with a good, and based upon the model of quantitative risk or return.