This doctoral dissertation titled "Product Strategies in Supply Chains" consists of three essays. In this dissertation, I study firms' strategic decisions regarding design of products and product lines in different supply chain contexts. I focus on firms' strategic interactions with supply chain members, including consumers and suppliers, in dynamic environments. The first essay (Chapter 2) studies how the cost structure of and information asymmetry about an OEM's in-house option affect her choice of product design quality in a decentralized supply chain where the supplier specifies contract terms. The second essay (Chapter 3) examines the effect of product returns and their potential refurbishing on intertemporal product strategy and profit of a firm facing strategic consumers. We also examine the effect of product returns on the time inconsistency problem faced by the firm. The third essay (Chapter 4) investigates the impact of competition from a third-party remanufacturer on product strategy and profit of an OEM in the presence of strategic consumers. Motivated by general perception among practitioners and the extant literature showing the competition from third-party remanufacturers as undesirable for the OEM, we specifically examine whether competition from a third-party remanufacturer is always undesirable for the OEM.

This study argues that a firm's product location choice may be a function of the firm's way of splitting the product market (i.e., divisionalization) and the concern for product cannibalization at the division and the firm levels. The focus of this study is at the division level and a division's new product location choice vis-à-vis its own products (intra-divisional new product distance), the products of a rival division of competing firms (inter-firm divisional new product distance), and the products of a sister division of the same firm (intra-firm divisional new product distance). The hypotheses were tested using data on the U.S. automobile industry between 1979 and 1999. The results show that a focal division with a high level of inter-firm divisional domain overlap with a rival division, relative to the focal division's own domain, is more likely to locate its new product (here new car model) closer to that rival's existing car models. And it was also found that divisional density affects a division's new product location choice. But this study didn't find any significant role of divisional status on new product location choice. And contrary to our expectation, the results of intra-firm divisional domain overlap and new product location choice suggest that inter-divisional product cannibalization might not be such an important concern when divisions introduce their new products, as we had originally expected. By addressing the firm's competitive engagement in the context of a division's new product location choice, this study expands the basic logic of market overlap at the firm level into the unit- or division-level, and highlights how a division's new product location choice is affected by intra-firm divisional structural relationship as well as interfirm divisional structural relationship. In so doing, this study hopes to contribute to the literature on divisionalization, new product location choice, competition at the unit-level, and product cannibalization, among others.

The literature presents a number of advantages regarding companies’ strategic focus on product design, arguing that the dimension of visual aesthetics in products may help a company to create commercial success, e.g. through product differentiation and as a means of company brand recognition. However, developing new products that have visual aesthetics as an important dimension is not without difficulty, and may lead to a number of managerial challenges. The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to describe and analyse how companies develop products that have visual aesthetics as an important dimension. The thesis describes and analyses: how the dimension of visual aesthetics affects the characteristics of the new product development process; how companies strike a balance between commercial and creative imperatives during new product development; and how companies source and collaborate using artistic design resources during new product development. Based on findings from five new product development projects and from interviews with managers at twelve Swedish designer furniture manufacturers, the thesis concludes that the dimension of visual aesthetics in products affects new product development in different ways. First, companies’ development of visual aesthetics calls for a more creative, artistic development process whereby, for example, idea generation and evaluation are often flexible in relation to plans made. Moreover, the different and subjective judgement of the aesthetic value of products has implications for new product development, e.g. that the company needs to address and balance imperatives stemming from different audiences, i.e. the designer’s self, peers, and the mass market, during product development. Also, it is concluded that the sourcing of designer resources and the composition of designer portfolios are both critical and related to companies’ desired brand image. A close and trustful working relationship between the designer and the manufacturer is a basis for companies’ successful product development. Theoretically, this research contributes to the product development literature through its findings on companies’ new product development processes in a seldom researched context, i.e. the development of designer products. Additionally, it contributes to the literature on design outsourcing by presenting new findings on the interplay between artistic design resources and managers. Moreover, it also contributes to the marketing literature by providing fresh insights into how companies balance their commercial and creative interests when developing new products. / Design och dess relation till företags marknadsföring är något som diskuteras både i akademisk litteratur och i samhället i övrigt. Genom att förstå och utnyttja design kan företaget skapa kommersiella fördelar, t ex genom att differentiera produkten från konkurrenternas och skapa igenkänning för företagets varumärke. Dock är utveckling av produkter med design som en viktig dimension inte oproblematisk utan kan leda till stora utmaningar för företaget. Tre sådana utmaningar i företag beskrivs och analyseras i denna avhandling. För det första behandlar avhandlingen hur ett fokus på design påverkar företagets produktutvecklingsprocess. Vidare studeras hur företaget balanserar kreativa och kommersiella intressen under produktutvecklingsprocessen. Dessutom behandlar avhandlingen hur företaget införskaffar och samarbetar med formgivare. Den industriella kontext som valts för denna avhandling är den svenska designmöbelindustrin. Avhandlingens slutsatser bygger på fallstudier inom väletablerade och framgångsrika företag inom denna industri. Avhandlingen visar att dimensionen av design påverkar företagens utvecklingsarbete på olika sätt. Först visar studien att de studerade företagens utveckling av designmöbler innebär en kreativ utvecklingsprocess där t.ex. idé-generering och ‑urval sällan grundas i strikta produktplaner utan i stället präglas av flexibilitet och tillvaratagande på uppkomna möjligheter. Vidare är bedömningen av en produkts designvärde subjektiv och svår att formulera i ord. Urvalet av lovande produktidéer grundas därför i hög grad på ledningens goda kunskap om design och erfarenhet inom branschen. Utöver detta påverkas företagens produktutveckling på olika sätt av det faktum att designvärde också skapas genom uppmärksamhet och uppskattning av exempelvis press, mässor och utmärkelser. Det visas också att företagens urval av formgivare är kritiskt och basen för ett framgångsrikt utvecklingsarbete. I de studerade företagen sker utveckling av produkter i nära och förtroendefullt samarbete mellan managers och formgivare. Dessutom kan företag påverka sitt varumärke genom att skapa en genomtänkt strategi för urval av formgivare och samarbetsformer med dessa.

Product managers typically have job descriptions listing their duties and responsibilities. These itemized lists identify the requirements of the job and are used to measure the product managers' success. They provide the what of the job, but they don't always include the how. ( Gorchels, 2003, p1) The objectives of the research was: - To determine best practices for product managers to perform their roles in the pharmaceutical industry - To evaluate current beliefs and practices of product managers regarding their roles and responsibilities in the pharmaceutical industry. - To establish ways to improve poor practices and provide guidance to product managers in the pharmaceutical industry. The study was conducted amongst product managers in a leading pharmaceutical company. The findings indicated that there some problems were experienced in the company .It was also evident that while there were some good practices in the division, poor methods of practice were also being conducted by the product managers. Implementing the recommendations proposed may enable the product managers to successfully perform their relevant roles and effectively execute their responsibilities within the pharmaceutical industry. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, 2003.

This study examines gender typing of industrial products in the activity of industrial design. Thus firstly, the meaning of gender, related theories and gender stereotypes have been reviewed through the literature survey in order to pinpoint the stereotypical attributes assigned to men and women through society and culture. Secondly, the effect of the stereotypical gender attributes on the act of possessing products have been examined. In return, a literature survey on the cognitive aspects of design has been conducted in order to question whether these gender attributes might have a similar impact on the design activity. The findings of the literature survey pointed towards categorical information processing theories as an appropriate tool to gender type products and also as a tool to measure the gender qualities of a product. To test the applicability of the methodology of categorization a study has been conducted with industrial designers and industrial design students in which the students were asked to design gender typed products and industrial designers were asked to rate their perceptions of genderedness of the designs. The test revealed the existence of a mental library consisting of categorized images corresponding to stereotypical gender attributes in the individuals, thus preparing the grounds for the use of this process in the industrial design activity.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-157).

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-94).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-147). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-85)

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-94) Also available in print.