Stimuli of Collaboration in Product Development: A Case Study in a Project Manufacturing Company

Abstract

Accepted: 8 November 2017There is already a wide acceptance on the importance of involving supplier and customer companies in product development. Decent understanding prevails on the relationshiporiented approach to product development including various collaboration forms. However, there is less research on the factors explaining the decision of attending to joint product development. In addition, less studies have examined the integrated role of both suppliers and customers in product development initiatives. This study searches answers to the following research questions: 1. What is the role of different actors in product development initiatives? 2. What factors motivate suppliers and customers to participate in product development?The research is carried out as an in-depth qualitative single case study in a large project manufacturing company. It takes the perspective of a focal company striving for product improvements. The first part of the empirical study consists of 15 semi-structured interviews. The second part includes two discursive workshops and builds upon the results of the interviews. This study contributes to the existing research by explaining the challenges and conditions facilitating joint product development with supplier and purchaser companies. The results highlight the role of customers in improving the effectiveness of product development. As a practical contribution, the paper reports the application of workshop method as a facilitator of collaboration between supplier, purchaser (focal company) and customer companies.Keywords collaboration, supplier involvement, customer involvement, product development, purchasing, supply management, case study. IntroductionThe importance of collaboration in product development has been acknowledged for a long time. Development of complex products often requires collaboration crossing organizational boundaries enabling the use of complementary knowledge and resources [1,2]. There is already a lot of literature on involving both suppliers [e.g. 3, 4] and customers [e.g. 1, 5] to product development. The literature of product development includes many factors promoting inter-organizational collaboration [6]. The benefits of involving suppliers to product development include leveraging supplier knowledge to reduce costs and lead times of product development [7], getting better access to supplier technology [8], and increased innovation outcomes due to resource pooling and complementary capabilities [9]. In addition, customer involvement may have a positive impact on product success [10], understanding of customer needs [5] and competitor moves [11]; and generation of new ideas [12].The level and degree of supplier innovation in terms of product development is one of the main competitive priorities in supplier selection [13]. Earlier research has often considered how external part-13 Unauthenticated Download Date | 5/11/18 7:59 PM Management and Production Engineering Reviewners for joint product development should be chosen [2]. Also the relati...

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