In the rapid pace of globalization and new market competition, the New Product Development (NPD) and the Supply Chain Management (SCM) represent today a frontier to obtain competitive advantages to companies. One interface between NPD and the SCM, the Supplier Integration (SI) has proved to be effective as competitive advantage. However, there is a lack of research on how human variables, such as national culture, can moderate the effectiveness of Supplier Integration on those fields. Therefore, this study investigates the relationships between Supplier Integration from the Product-Process-Supply Chain triad and the National Culture Dimensions. I conducted an exploratory case study in 3 companies in the automobilist industry that operates as a Modular Consortium (MC) in Southern Brazil and used the Hofstede´s (2001) national culture dimensions to model national cultural factors. The findings show an evident relation between Supplier Integration with the Low Power Distance, Low Individualism and High Uncertainty Avoidance poles, while no Masculinity and Longterm Orientation pole was distinct for the Supplier Integration in the case study. The managerial implications of this study is to provide a better understanding of the potential impact of human factor to the Supplier Integration in companies that will have operations in Brazil. / No ritmo acelerado da globalização e nova concorrência no mercado, Desenvolvimento de Novos Produtos (NPD) e Supply Chain Management (SCM) representam hoje uma fronteira para obter vantagens competitivas para as empresas. Uma interface entre o NPD e o SCM, a Integração do Fornecedor (SI) provou ser eficaz como vantagem competitiva. No entanto, há uma falta de investigação sobre como variáveis humanas, tais como cultura nacional, pode moderar a eficácia da integração do fornecedor (SI) nesses campos do conhecimento. Portanto, este estudo investiga as relações entre fornecedor Integração da Cadeia na tríade Produto-Processo-Cadeia de Suprimentos e as Dimensões da Cultura Nacional. Para tal foi realizado um estudo de caso exploratório em três empresas do setor automobilístico que operam no Consórcio Modular (MC) no Sudeste do Brasil e usaram-se as dimensões culturais de Hofstede\'s (2001) para modelar fatores humanos. Os resultados mostram uma evidente relação entre a integração do fornecedor com a baixa Distância do Poder, baixo Individualismo e elevada Aversão à Incerteza, no entanto não foram obtidas relações evidentes para as dimensões Masculinidade e Orientação a Longo Prazo para a Integração do Fornecedor no estudo de caso. A principal colaboração deste trabalho é o fornecimento de uma melhor compreensão do potencial impacto do fator humano para a integração do fornecedor em empresas que possuem operações no Brasil.

In the rapid pace of globalization and new market competition, the New Product Development (NPD) and the Supply Chain Management (SCM) represent today a frontier to obtain competitive advantages to companies. One interface between NPD and the SCM, the Supplier Integration (SI) has proved to be effective as competitive advantage. However, there is a lack of research on how human variables, such as national culture, can moderate the effectiveness of Supplier Integration on those fields. Therefore, this study investigates the relationships between Supplier Integration from the Product-Process-Supply Chain triad and the National Culture Dimensions. I conducted an exploratory case study in 3 companies in the automobilist industry that operates as a Modular Consortium (MC) in Southern Brazil and used the Hofstede´s (2001) national culture dimensions to model national cultural factors. The findings show an evident relation between Supplier Integration with the Low Power Distance, Low Individualism and High Uncertainty Avoidance poles, while no Masculinity and Longterm Orientation pole was distinct for the Supplier Integration in the case study. The managerial implications of this study is to provide a better understanding of the potential impact of human factor to the Supplier Integration in companies that will have operations in Brazil. / No ritmo acelerado da globalização e nova concorrência no mercado, Desenvolvimento de Novos Produtos (NPD) e Supply Chain Management (SCM) representam hoje uma fronteira para obter vantagens competitivas para as empresas. Uma interface entre o NPD e o SCM, a Integração do Fornecedor (SI) provou ser eficaz como vantagem competitiva. No entanto, há uma falta de investigação sobre como variáveis humanas, tais como cultura nacional, pode moderar a eficácia da integração do fornecedor (SI) nesses campos do conhecimento. Portanto, este estudo investiga as relações entre fornecedor Integração da Cadeia na tríade Produto-Processo-Cadeia de Suprimentos e as Dimensões da Cultura Nacional. Para tal foi realizado um estudo de caso exploratório em três empresas do setor automobilístico que operam no Consórcio Modular (MC) no Sudeste do Brasil e usaram-se as dimensões culturais de Hofstede\'s (2001) para modelar fatores humanos. Os resultados mostram uma evidente relação entre a integração do fornecedor com a baixa Distância do Poder, baixo Individualismo e elevada Aversão à Incerteza, no entanto não foram obtidas relações evidentes para as dimensões Masculinidade e Orientação a Longo Prazo para a Integração do Fornecedor no estudo de caso. A principal colaboração deste trabalho é o fornecimento de uma melhor compreensão do potencial impacto do fator humano para a integração do fornecedor em empresas que possuem operações no Brasil.

Introduction: The focus of this thesis is set on how green innovation can be facilitated through supplier relationships. Early supplier integration (ESI) can be defined as a collaboration between a purchasing firm and its supplier at an early stage of the product conceptualization and green innovation can be defined as the implementation of several management activities aimed at reducing environmental impact. Throughout the years researchers have examined the advantages and impact of green innovation, however, how manufacturing companies can manage early supplier integration to foster green innovation has not been explicitly studied. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore how early supplier integration can foster green innovation between manufacturer and supplier. Furthermore, this research proposes a conceptual model that addresses how early supplier integration can foster green innovation. Research Questions: Which are the current corporate practices for green innovation related to supplier relationships? What are the main prerequisites for green innovation in ESI? How can manufacturers manage their early supplier integration to foster green innovation?  Methodology: Based on the purpose and research questions in this thesis the authors deemed a qualitative research approach to be the most applicable research design. To gather in-depth data for the thesis, semi-structured interviews were chosen as the most appropriate data collection method. Respondents that were included based on their extensive knowledge regarding internal green integration, supplier selection, early supplier integration, co-development, and green innovation. Conclusion: This study provides knowledge regarding how early supplier integration can foster green innovation between manufacturer and supplier. It can be concluded that in order for early supplier integration to actively foster green innovation it is necessary to consider a holistic perspective by adapting four chronological concepts that are managed in the order: internal green integration, supplier selection, early supplier integration, and co-development.

För att möta kundernas strikta krav på korta ledtider och krav på lågkostnadsprodukter med hög kvalitet, har många organisationer kommit att bero allt mer på underleverantörer för att utveckla konkurrenskraftiga produkter. Omfattningen av leverantörsintegrering kan beskrivas med mängden ansvar en leverantör får i beställarens produktutveckling och hur samarbetet ser ut mellan parterna. Graden av ansvarsdelning kan innebära allt från rådgivning till fullständigt ansvar för alla processer i produktutvecklingskedjan. Perspektivet i detta arbete har fokuserat på underleverantören och hur den kan skapa värde i beställarens produktutveckling. Vidare syftar denna rapport att ta reda på vilka faktorer som påverkas beroende på när en leverantör integreras i produktutvecklingen. Rapporten undersöker specifikt hur faktorer som tid till produktion, utvecklingskostnader och produktkvalitet påverkas av tidig integration med leverantören. Arbetet bygger på en förstudie av tidigare forskning inom integration av underleverantörer i produktutveckling samt en kvalitativ intervjustudie med två svenska företag. Företagens relation till varandra är kund och leverantör. Arbetet kommer fram till slutsatsen att tidig integration och nära samarbeten med en underleverantör kan ha positiva effekter på pris och kvalitet, men mindre tydliga effekter på tid till produktion. Arbetet visar även vikten av bra kommunikation mellan leverantör och kund för bättre resultat i produktutvecklingen. Faktorer som geografisk plats, mängden resurser som båda parter investerar påverkar dessa resultat i stor utsträckning. / In order to meet clients' demands for short development times and cheap products with high quality, many organizations are relying more and more on suppliers to develop products that can compete on today's ferocious global marketplaces. The focus of this paper is on the supplier and how it can affect the client’s product development positively. Furthermore, this paper aims to conclude which factors that are affected when the supplier is integrated into the client’s product development. This report looks at how specific factors such as time to production, development costs and quality of the products are affected by early integration with the supplier. The scope of supplier integration can be defined by the amount of shared responsibility of the product development between the supplier and the buying organization. The level of shared responsibility can mean everything from strictly consulting to complete responsibility of the entire product development process. This paper is based on a study of previous research of supplier integration into product development, including a qualitative interview study with two Swedish companies. The internal relationship of the two companies that take part in this study is that of client and supplier. The conclusions are that early integration and close cooperation with suppliers have positive effects on price and quality, but only marginal effects on development times. The paper shows that regular communication between client and supplier generates better results in product development. Factors such as geographical location and the amount of resources that both parts invest affect these results.

Cette thèse explore le rôle de l'intégration inter-organisationnelle et de l'intégration produits en tant que deux dimensions constitutives de l'intégration des fournisseurs dans le développement de produits, au moyen de trois essais. Le premier essai est une revue systématique de la littérature sur l'intégration des fournisseurs. Il identifie l'intégration des produits comme une dimension qui est rarement incorporée dans la conceptualisation de l'intégration des fournisseurs. Afin de combler les lacunes identifiées dans la revue de la littérature, nous construisons un modèle conceptuel qui intègre les concepts de la théorie du traitement de l'information et de la théorie de la modularité. Le deuxième essai opérationnalise ce modèle conceptuel au moyen d’une étude de cas ancrée dans une entreprise de l’industrie de la défense. Cet essai démontre que la gouvernance de la relation entre un acheteur et un fournisseur est liée à un concept peu étudié dans la littérature sur la conception des produits, à savoir les produits d’interfaces. Le troisième essai est un développement théorique sur les produits d’interfaces comme éléments déterminants de la conception du produit et de la structure organisationnelle. Cet essai définit théoriquement les propriétés micro-fondatrices des interfaces et fournit des exemples tirés des secteurs des télécommunications, de l’automobile et de l’aéronautique comme évidence de leur existence. Cette thèse souligne l'importance des interfaces des produits comme des éléments qui peuvent augmenter les exigences du traitement de l'information lors de l’intégration des fournisseurs dans le développement des produits. / This thesis explores the role of inter-organizational integration and product integration as two constituent dimensions of supplier integration into product development with three essays. The first essay is a systematic review of literature on supplier integration. It identifies product integration as a dimension that is scarcely incorporated in the conceptualization of supplier integration. In order to fill the gaps identified in the literature review, we build a conceptual model that incorporates concepts from Information Processing Theory and Modularity Theory. The second essay investigates this conceptual model with an embedded case study in a defense company. This essay shows that the governance of the relationship between a buyer and a supplier is related to an understudied concept in the product design literature, namely product interfaces. The third essay is a theoretical development of product interfaces as an element that determines product and organization design. This essay defines micro-foundational interface properties theoretically and provides examples from the telecommunications, automotive and aircraft industries as supportive evidence. Overall, this thesis points out the importance of product interfaces as elements that can increase information processing requirements of supplier integration into product development.

Product development has become essential in today’s technology driven marketplace. Currently, pointbased models such as the stage-gate model are applied in practice of several incumbent firms in the automotive industry. However, stage-gate models have been criticized for being too linear and plan focused as external pressures and internal complexity demand for faster and more flexible development, such as agile development. Although product development has a central role in the success of a firm, suppliers play a central role in helping firms achieve their product development goals. As a result, firms may undertake suppler development and integration initiatives to ensure quality and efficiency at the supplier. Utilizing supplier integration has shown positive effects on several performance outcomes. However, limited research on the effects of suppliers being integrated to deficient development practices has been published. Firms that integrate suppliers into point-based, documentation heavy processes could therefore potentially hinder internal development of flexible practices. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate how supplier integration challenges suppliers in adopting agile methods in product development and how these challenges can be addressed.  This study is based a qualitative, exploratory case study approach, including 13 interviews with various stakeholders within the case company together with extensive data from observations. The empirical data in combination with theories on agile development, traditional development, and supplier integration resulted in a proposition for adopting agile development approaches for integrated suppliers being locked-in to traditional development models. The findings indicate that integrated suppliers may face challenges in adopting agile methods due to requirements from the integrating firm on using traditional development methods. However, a possibility to utilize agile practices on the microperspective while retaining traditional development methods on the macro-perspective through a hybrid model enables adoption of agile methods for integrated suppliers. Although the possibility to adopt agile methods exist, the methods yield little benefits unless an agile leadership and vision is established. Therefore, a transition towards agile development also requires a transition in organizational culture to promote collaboration, distributed responsibility and collective intelligence. / Produktutveckling har blivit väsentlig på dagens teknikdrivna marknadsplats. För närvarande är traditionella modeller som stage-gate vanligt förekommande i flera etablerade företag inom bilindustrin, även om dessa modeller har kritiserats för att vara för linjära och planfokuserade när omgivningen och intern komplexitet kräver snabbare och mer flexibel utveckling. Även om produktutveckling har en fundamental roll i framgången hos ett företag så är leverantörer centrala i att hjälpa företag att uppnå sina produktutvecklingsmål. Som ett resultat av ökad outsourcing kan företag vidta mer utvecklings och integrationsinitiativ för att säkerställa kvalitet och effektivitet hos leverantören. Att använda leverantörsintegration har visat positiva effekter på flera nyckeltal. Emellertid har begränsad forskning om effekterna av att integrera leverantörer i ineffektiva produktutvecklingsmetoder publicerats. Företag som integrerar leverantörer i linjära, dokumentationstunga processer kan därför potentiellt hindra den interna utvecklingen av flexibla tillvägagångssätt. Därmed är syftet med denna studie att undersöka hur leverantörsintegration kan försvåra tillämpning av agila metoder i produktutveckling för leverantörer och hur dessa utmaningar kan adresseras. Denna studie bygger på en kvalitativ, explorativ fallstudie som inkluderar 13 intervjuer med anställda inom det observerade företaget tillsammans med omfattande data från observationer. Empiriska data i kombination med teorier om agil utveckling, traditionell utveckling och leverantörsintegration resulterade i ett förslag till integrerade leverantörer, som är bundna till traditionella utvecklingsmodeller, att adoptera agila utvecklingsmetoder. Resultaten tyder på att integrerade leverantörer kan möta utmaningar när det gäller att använda agila metoder på grund av krav att använda traditionella utvecklingsmetoder från det integrerande företaget. Där emot finns möjlighet att tillämpa agila metoder i mikroperspektivet samtidigt som traditionella utvecklingsmetoder bibehålls i makroperspektivet genom en hybridmodell. Även om möjligheten att adoptera agila metoder finns ger metoderna små fördelar utan adekvat agilt ledarskap och tankesätt. Därmed kräver en övergång till agil produktutveckling också en förändring i organisationskultur för att främja samarbete, distribuerat ansvar och kollektiv intelligens.