Thesis (MTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Design is a highly complex process. It involves various stakeholders, processes and interactions that need to work coherently in order to result in a successful design or product. It needs to be acknowledged that offering design as a successful service is not simply an interaction between a customer and a single designer, but in reality is far more complex and detailed. In today’s society, it is no longer sufficient for design-businesses to only focus on providing a well designed end product. Instead, customers now seek value in superior experiences from the services they use. Design-businesses thus need to shift their current outward focus to also create and design superior service experiences. Owing to the intangible complexities and intricacies within design as a service it makes it incredibly challenging to improve or enhance. Skeg Product Development, a leader in the Product design industry in South Africa, was used as a single case study to offer a real-world working context of Product design as a service. This study used purposefully selected Service design tools and techniques, such as the customer journey and service blueprint, for co-design workshops. Three workshops were facilitated in order to co-design maps with employees from various functions within the case study. Workshop 1 required participants to map their ideal customer journey. This was used to identify an area of focus within the case study that would benefit the most from improved visualisation. Workshop 2 and 3 used a service blueprint to map the existing front of stage- and backstage interactions and processes respectively. The mapped findings were supplemented by informal interviews with employees as well as continuous observations within the case study. It was found that Product design as a service, although the experience is subjective to each customer and project, is filled with intangible challenges and intricacies. It had been identified that managing customer expectations is currently the biggest challenge in offering Product design as a service. Although this was found to be a crucial obstacle to the customer experience, with multiple discussions around the topic, very little is actively being done to address it. It was also identified that current internal processes are not completely understood in terms of what they entail or their purpose to the service. This was found to be especially true across the various functions. This holds significant consequences for employees, the service and ultimately the customers. During the course of the study a number of themes and topics emerged. These include the success criteria for Product design as a service, as well as the significance of understanding roles and processes. The challenge of managing customer expectations in an unpredictable context is also addressed. The study subsequently presents two means for design-businesses to shift their focus to backstage processes in order to mitigate this challenge. The emerged themes speak to the greater industry of Product design as well as the developing field of Service design. This research is aimed at any individual, business or employee involved in the design industry. This includes anyone who has a role in delivering design as service who could benefit from a clearer understanding of the challenging context in which they work. It would also be beneficial to an individual or business who may want to suggest adjustments or changes to improve design as a service in future.

Com o ambiente corporativo amplamente competitivo, a necessidade de inovação e geração de novos produtos e serviços se tornou ainda maior para as organizações. O desenvolvimento desses novos produtos e serviços dentro das organizações é representado através de projetos que compete recursos com outros empreendimentos e deve fazer parte da estratégia corporativa. Dentro deste contexto, as organizações possuem um conjunto de projetos quem devem ser identificados, selecionados, priorizados e desenvolvidos. O gerenciamento de portfólio de projetos surge como uma alternativa que visa operacionalizar a estratégia de uma organização através de métodos, processos e ferramentas. Neste sentido, percebeu-se, por meio de uma pesquisa do tipo qualitativa com abordagem exploratória, a necessidade de um trabalho que pudesse verificar o desempenho do portfólio de projetos das organizações e proporcionasse um entendimento sobre as práticas de gerenciamento de portfólio utilizadas por duas empresas selecionadas. Como resultado do estudo, pode-se perceber que houve uma tendência de avaliações positivas por parte dos entrevistados em relação ao desempenho do portfólio de suas empresas, talvez até devido a um cenário anterior de pouca organização. As empresas estudadas apresentaram também processos definidos de gerenciamento de portfólio de projetos, bem documentados, adaptados ao negócio e à realidade das empresas. Em ambos os casos tais processos aparecem suportados por um elemento da estrutura organizacional chamado de Escritório de Projetos ou PMO, contando também com o apoio da alta administração das empresas. Concluiu-se também que os processos apresentados podem ser melhorados com a adoção de práticas presentes na literatura e ainda não utilizadas nas empresas. Por fim, as diferenças observadas entre as empresas pesquisadas não pareceram de grande magnitude, nem tanto significativas, o que sugere a realização de outros estudos nessa área. / In a competitive environment, the need for innovation and new products and services development has become even more important for organizations. The development of new products and services within the organization is represented through projects that compete with other businesses and resources should be part of corporate strategy. In this context, organizations have a set of projects that should be identified, selected, prioritized and developed. The project portfolio management is an alternative that aims to operationalize the strategy of an organization through methods, processes and tools. Therefore, through a qualitative study with an exploratory approach, the need for a research that could check the project portfolio performance and an understanding of the portfolio management practices used by two companies selected. As a result of the study, we could observe that there was a trend of positive ratings by the respondents regarding the portfolio performance, perhaps due to a previous scenario with less organization. The companies studied also had defined processes for project portfolio management, well documented, adapted to their business needs and reality. In both cases these processes appear supported by an element of the organizational structure called the Project Management Office or PMO, also supported by their senior management. It was also shown that the processes can be improved by adopting practices from the literature and not used in business. Finally, the differences between the companies researched did not seem of great magnitude, nor significant, which suggests the need of further studies in this area.

Thesis. 1975. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. / Bibliography: leaves 58-64. / by Walter G. Lehmann. / M.S.

Thesis. 1975. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. / Bibliography: leaf 51. / by Alan J. Berger. / M.S.

Orientador: Daniel Jugend / Coorientadora: Gladys Dorotea Cacsire Barriga / Banca: José Carlos de Toledo / Banca: Márcio Lopes Pimenta / Banca: Fernando Bernardi de Souza / Banca: Renato de Campos / Resumo: Pesquisas recentes em processo de desenvolvimento de produtos (PDP) têm buscado identificar e analisar as práticas incorporadas aos projetos de novos produtos que podem influenciar o desempenho das empresas. O objetivo desta tese consiste em identificar e analisar as relações de influência entre um conjunto de práticas relativas às dimensões: Estratégia, Processo, Cultura organizacional, Clima de projeto, Pesquisa e Métricas, associadas ao PDP, e os desempenhos inovador e do processo de desenvolvimento de produtos. Como método de pesquisa, adotou-se um levantamento do tipo survey realizado em empresas dos setores automotivo, farmacoquímico e de fabricação de equipamentos. As empresas pesquisadas atuam no Brasil e possuem atividades de desenvolvimento de novos produtos. Os dados obtidos foram analisados por meio de estatística descritiva e de modelagem de equações estruturais. Dentre os principais resultados, notou-se que (i) o conjunto de práticas relacionadas à dimensão Pesquisa apresenta influência significativa no desempenho inovador; (ii) o conjunto de práticas relacionadas à dimensão Clima de projeto demostrou possuir influência significativa no desempenho do PDP; (iii) o tamanho da empresa tem uma relação de influência inversa, ou seja, quanto maior o tamanho da empresa, menor seu desempenho inovador. Por outro lado, esperava-se que as práticas ligadas às dimensões Estratégia, Processo, Cultura organizacional e Métricas apresentassem influência significativa nos desempe... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Recent research on new product development (NPD) has aimed to identify practices embedded in new product projects that can influence company performance and management. The objective of this research is to identify and analyze the relations of influence between a set of practices related to the following dimensions: Strategy, Process, Organizational culture, Project Climate, Research and Metrics associated with the NPD and with the innovative performances of the NPD process. As a research method, a survey was carried out in companies of the Brazilian automotive, pharmaceutical and equipment manufacturing sectors which execute activities of new products development. The data obtained was analyzed by descriptive statistics and structural equations modeling. Among the main results, it was possible to identify that: (i) the set of practices related to the Research dimension presents a significant influence on the innovative performance; (ii) the set of practices related to the project Climate dimension has been shown to have a significant influence on the performance of the NPD; (iii) the size of the company has an inverse influence relation, ie, the larger the company size, the lower its innovative performance. On the other hand, it was expected that practices related to the Strategy, Process, Organizational culture and Metrics dimensions presented significant influence on performance, but that was not supported by the results presented in the proposed model. Due to the need for... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

The purpose of the research undertaken for this thesis was to examine management practices relating to new product development processes in small to medium-sized manufacturing firms (SMEs). The thesis topic has its origins in a European Community funded research project carried out during 1997-9 and designated CIMA (Continuous Improvement in Global Innovation Management) ESPRIT project 26056. The CIMA project had as its objective the development, testing and dissemination of a methodology to support knowledge transfer in the product innovation process. The CIMA model suggested a relationship between management behaviours and performance outcomes that used literature from a variety of research areas including continuous improvement, product innovation, performance measurement, and inter-project learning. This literature was centred largely on research undertaken in large organisations, with little information available on the new product development (NPD) practices in SMEs. This thesis sought to examine the management of NPD activities in SMEs across a range of important variables as identified in larger organisations in an effort to evaluate whether they were as relevant in smaller organisations. The literature review reduced the research to four broad questions: 1.what is the relationship between a business unit’s competitive strategy and its new product development strategy, 2.how management involvement in improving NPD performance, 3.does a more systematic approach to management of NPD projects would lead to better outcomes, and finally 4.how new product development performance is measured in SMEs. A two-stage, field based research methodology was used to gather data for this thesis. Firstly, a quantitative survey instrument was used to collect data across a broad range of variables. The data thus gathered were supported by a subsequent set of interviews in three SMEs that. In each of these firms, employees from the broad functional areas of sales, operations, and design, were interviewed to gain a greater understanding of the issues that might emerge in the quantitative survey. Thematic analysis was used to examine the qualitative data. Descriptive statistics, in the main were used to evaluate the quantitative data. Findings relevant to each of the research questions provide valuable insights into NPD practices in SMEs. For instance, strategies tend to be hazy, and have a short term emphasis. The qualitative interviews in particular showed a lack of certainty and direction when it came to strategy. With regard to management involvement, there was more emphasis on individual effort rather than team-based activities. Managers tended not to look for external sources to improve their NPD performance. The approach taken in managing NPD activities, whether it was systematic or informal, did not appear to affect innovativeness, though it did appear to impact other variables such as time-to-market. Finally, performance measurement in SMEs tended to emphasise cost outcomes as opposed to variables critical to customers such as conformance quality or time-to-market. Further, outcomes in those performance dimensions did not appear to influence future strategy or actions within the organisations. A detailed review of the data is provided in chapters five, six and seven. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been successfully used as an environmental assessment tool for the development of ecologically sustainable products. The application of LCA in the early design stage has been constrained by the requirement of large amounts of data and time for carrying out the assessment. In addition, the complexity of LCA causes further difficulties for product developers. In order to integrate the environmental assessment into the process of product development, this research proposes an integrated decision model for sustainable product development and a simplified LCA approach for the application in the early stage of product design. The main advantage of the proposed model is that it incorporates the environmental aspects of product development into the existing product development framework. It enables designers to strike a balance between the product???s environmental performance and other traditional design objectives. The simplified LCA approach is based on the concept and application of Environmental Impact Drivers. Material-based environmental impacts and Energy-based environmental impacts are used to predict the total environmental impact of a product. Two sets of impact drivers were developed accordingly. The Material-based Impact Drivers were identified by classifying materials into 16 groups according to the nature of the materials and their environmental performance. Energy-based Impact Drivers were developed for various energy sources in major industrial regions. Product LCA cases were used to verify the proposed methods. The results computed by the application of the impact drivers were compared with the results of full LCA studies. It is concluded that with the proposed approach, the product???s environmental performance can be assessed in a very short time and with very basic data input requirements and acceptable accuracy.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri--Rolla, 2007. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed November 26, 2007) Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-58).

Due to the rapid variation of the world economic conditions, the situation of property competition has turned from regional into global. The traditional property is facing the unprecedented challenge. Especially after joined the WTO, Taiwan¡¦s traditional property is confronting the turning point to either the better or the worse. In such a rapid-changing economic circumstance, the enterprisers should not only keep in the lead status, but pursue competitive superiority on business strategy. Therefore only making good use of innovation management can make the firms move on with the age. For the past ten years, the growth of business profits are mostly come from reducing the prime cost; however, presently the prime cost has no way to condense down, so finding the new directions and energy for the next phase are the common anxiety to the all enterprisers. At the present time, all the experts believe that the key to making business profits in the next phase is only by creativity and innovation. In recent years, the traditional property has paid much attention on ¡§property innovation¡¨ than before. This could be practiced by several firms absorbing the concept of innovation, and making higher ROI than before, also promoting the constitution of the firms. In this way, ¡§property innovation¡¨ can prove several aspects such as the more proactive development of the firms, and eliminate the stereotype that the traditional property is the declining property. This research is focusing on cognition of OPTION on product innovation during designing and the exploitation process. The innovation of products not just makes the firms operate sustainedly, but also be the only way to earn rich profits. The creativity of a successful innovative product needs to possess the explicit features and orientation. Also, product innovation should gain the consumers¡¦ identification to make the substantial economic benefits. Formerly, the product innovation is discussed from the viewpoints of the products¡¦ exterior designing or the management of the firms, and the both have the great influences on product innovation. This research analyses that the foregoing two points contribute to the consultation and estimation during exploiting the new products, and help to reduce the gap between the consumers and the firms¡¦ R&D department, and in this way, the firms can be closer to the consumers¡¦ needs for the new products. Key word: Innovation¡BInnovation management¡BExploiting the new products¡BOPTION on product innovation

Product proliferation is a common challenge for firms providing customized products. To cope with this challenge, firms usually incorporate strategies such as component commonality, postponement, and/or delayed differentiation in their supply chains. In this dissertation, we study the effectiveness of these strategies. First, we evaluate the inventory costs for various percentages of common component substitution. Second, we analyze the performance of two postponement strategies and their relationship with product proliferation. Third, we study the cost and benefits of implementing delayed differentiation in a make-to-order environment and provide insights for managers choosing where along the supply chain they should differentiate their products.