Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1981.

In today's marketplace firms have to become specialized in specific technological aspects in product development due to intensifying competition. Further, the increasing complexity of offerings make firms become more dependent on other value-chain contributors such as providers of complementary and component technologies. Therefore, in addition to the inherent market of appeal of product, a successful introduction may depend on the firm's interactions with suppliers and even "competitors". These interactions with other firms in the marketplace present a unique set of challenges to firms. In this dissertation, we explore how a firm's approach to interacting with supply chain partners and/or competitors may depend upon how its product provides value to customers. In the first essay, we look into how a firm should design the interdependence between a durable good and a consumable such as a printer and a cartridge and utilize the benefits of an industry of generic consumable suppliers. In the second essay, we analyze the different approaches that firms adopt while commercializing their technologies to competitors in a networked environment (such as telecommunications). We identify the impact of the competitor's development capabilities on the trade-off between the increased competition and network benefits. In the third essay, we explore situations in which firms collaborate to develop a component innovation that they later market individually; they codevelop and jointly market; and they choose to individually develop and market. We consider how competitive strategies between development partners should consider the influence of supplier formation on the investment incentives of an OEM. In summary, this dissertation examines how the management of interactions with supply chain partners and competitors can play an important role in technology development and deployment. Our results highlight key trade-offs and provide insights for managers who are involved in developing and deploying new products. / text

M. Tech. Business Administration / In today's advanced technological era, new products are developing rapidly and market competition is increasing. It is important for technology-based companies to invest more in research and development to increase their development and design capabilities so that they can provide innovative products to an ever-changing market. Product development refers to the complete process of bringing a new product or service to the market. It has been an on-going journey for companies to find answers to the question why some companies are more successful with product development than others. Therefore there is a need for identifying and understanding the factors that influence successful product development to ensure that organisations remain the leaders in client and partner technology. This study was based on the company Internet Solutions and was aimed at exploring and identifying the success factors in their product development process. The objective of the study was to review the current product development process being followed in Internet Solutions and identify any gaps in the process. A SWOT analysis was done to achieve this objective.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Mechanical Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

This dissertation seeks to advance our understanding of how marketing principles can be used to improve the process of new product design. Specifically, it examines the potential of a specific cognitive process, visual mental imagery, as a tool to help designers maximize the appeal of new products in the eyes of their customers. A conceptual framework is presented that describes a process through which visual mental imagery might influence the customer appeal of a design output. This is followed by two experiments which test the hypotheses that flow from this model. The experiments manipulate both the type of visual imagery utilized, and the incorporation of the customer in the imagery invoked (content of the imagery), in order to examine their effects on the usefulness, originality, and customer appeal of the resulting design. Consistent with the proposed framework and its hypotheses, visualization of the customer, as part of the imagery process, proved to enhance design usefulness when this imagery was imagination-based, but not when it was memory-based. Furthermore, use of imagination-based imagery resulted in more original designs than pure memory-based imagery. Finally, and most importantly, the use of customer visualization in combination with imagination-based imagery led to designs that were significantly more appealing to the customer. An analysis of covariance subsequently revealed that this improvement in customer appeal was mediated both by the perceived usefulness of the design, and by its degree of originality. The dissertation concludes with the integration of the experimental findings, and a discussion of the potential of visual imagery as a tool in the new product design process.

This dissertation reports on the research work of a new business improvement methodology called the design for Six Sigma (DFSS) conducted within a global resources company with specific reference to Manganese Metal Company (MMC), a subsidiary of BHP Billiton (BHPB). The aim of this research was by means of a case study, through action research, to investigate, analyse and evaluate the "Define, Measure, Analyse, Design and Verify" (DMADV) model proposed by Picard (2004) with specific reference to a new product design. The study was concerned with identifying the BHPB strategic business reasons, effects and analysing the financial impact of implementing a DFSS project pertaining to a new product design at MMC. The literature review highlighted that DFSS enhances revenue growth, quality and reliability for a new product. The key findings were that DFSS does not exist within MMC and BHPB, the DFSS methodology could improve and enhance the revenue for a new product design at MMC and none of the BHPB customer sector groups are reporting any operating excellence (OE) annualised cost improvement benefits for DFSS projects. The main recommendation emerging from this research is that an integrated DFSS process will enable BHPB to identify critical leverage points for improving the overall financial performance in achieving the FY09 OE objective of $1 billion in annualised cost improvement benefits thus achieving the world class benchmark standard set by General Electric Corporation.

Darbo objektas: Inovacijų diegimas Lietuvos kelionių organizatorių įmonėse. Tikslas: įvertinti inovacijų diegimą Lietuvos kelionių organizatorių įmonėse. Uždaviniai: 1. Apibrėžti inovacijos sampratą ir paaiškinti inovacijų valdymo procesą; 2. Išnagrinėti inovacijų specifiką turizmo sektoriuje; 3. Apklausti Lietuvos kelionių organizatorių įmonių darbuotojus, siekiant ištirti inovacijų diegimą. Tiriamasis klausimas: 1. Ar kelionių organizatorių įmonės siekia kurti inovacinius produktus bei paslaugas? Svarbiausi rezultatai, išvados ir pasiūlymai. Atlikus tyrimą, galima daryti išvadą, kad Lietuvos kelionių organizatorių įmonių veikla orientuota į naujų paslaugų, produktų kūrimą bei jų diegimą. Didelis dėmesys skirtas ir esamiems produktams, paslaugoms tobulinti. Dažniausiai įmonėse yra diegiamos produkto ir paslaugos inovacijos. Retai diegiamos organizacinės veiklos inovacijos bei technologinio proceso inovacijos. Mano pasiūlymas kelionių organizatorių vadovams, savininkams – daugiau dėmesio skirti technologinio proceso inovacijoms, nes technologijos sparčiai juda į priekį, todėl visada yra terpė plėstis, tobulėti. Taip pat daugiau dėmesio skirti organizacinės veiklos inovacijoms, nes tik darniai dirbančios bei turinčios atitinkamą organizacinę kultūrą organizacijos, galės daug efektyviau kurti bei diegti naujus produktus. Taip pat rekomenduočiau vykdyti mokymus, seminarus apie naujų produktų kūrimą, esamų produktų tobulinimą, sėkmingą jų įvedimą į rinką. Siūlyčiau daugiau... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Key words: innovation, process of innovation, new products, travel organizer. Object of research: innovations in the enterprises of travel organizers. Aim of research: to evaluate the innovatory of Lithuanian travel organizers. Goals: 1. To explain the conception of the innovations and the process of the administration; 2. To discuss the particularity of the innovations in the tourism sector; 3. To investigate the Lithuanian travel organizers and evaluate their innovatory. Investigation: 1. Are the travel organizers enterprises ready to make the new products and services? Leading results, conclusion and suggestions. After the investigation we can come to the conclusion that Lithuanian travel organizers are innovatory enough and their work is directed towards creation of new services, products and their implementation in the market. 87 percent of enterprises apply the innovations in their activities. Great attention is paid to the already existing products and services and their implementation. Mostly the innovations of products and services are applied in the activity. Organizational and technological innovations are rarely used. The investigation showed that travel organizers enterprises do not encourage to suggest the new ideas, because it is considered as a matter-of-course, usual thing. My suggestion for the travel leaders and owners – is not only to pay more attention to the technological innovations, because technologies are expeditiously in progress, therefore... [to full text]

The new product development (NPD) process has been long conceptualized as an intense information processing task, yet several questions about the role of information in shaping NPD decisions remain open. For instance, the persistent representation of NPD decisions as a single decision-maker outcome in existing theory; it limits our understanding of decisions that involve multiple and heterogeneous organizational stakeholders, and it appears distant from the managerial realities. This dissertation focuses on managerial decisions where information acquisition, ownership and interpretation exhibit heterogeneity. The first essay (Chapter 2) examines the role of informational asymmetries that competing firms face when investing in R&D. The second essay (Chapter 3) reveals the detrimental effects of interpretive diversity (i.e., different people may interpret differently the same information) on project termination decisions. The third essay (Chapter 4) examines how consumers' information regarding future market conditions can affect a firm's strategy on striking a balance between its primary and secondary markets.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 218-237.

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-102). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.