Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Increased competition and increased costs of designing made it important for the firms to identify the right products and the right methods for manufacturing the products. Firms should focus on customers and identify customer demands accurately to design the right products. Several management methods and techniques that are currently available improve one or more functions or processes in an industry and do not take the complete product life cycle into consideration. On the other hand target costing is a method / philosophy that takes financial, manufacturing and customer aspects into consideration during designing phase and helps firms in making product design decisions to increase the profit / value of the company. It uses various techniques to identify customer demands, to decrease costs of manufacturing and finally to achieve strategic goals. Target costing does not replace any technique that is currently in practice for product design. But it forms an integral part of total product design / redesign based on strategic plans. The current report details the process of target costing along with some associated techniques and applies the process to the designing of the Caterpillar's D10 tractor in the late 70s / Master of Engineering

The construction industry is in the midst of a progressive change in the way projects unfold from design and development to closeout and maintenance. There is a greater demand on contractors to build projects faster, with higher quality and an increased level of detail, while keeping costs lower than ever. Therefore, to meet such demands contractors must turn to an alternative approach of improving product and process with target costing. However, the adoption of target costing by the construction industry has been slow due to limitations in user understanding of the system. The objective of this paper is to identify an effective approach for teaching target costing to construction-focused individuals, by establishing improved user understanding with visual aids, and by determining if user comprehension is influenced by the complexity of the visual supports provided in the lessons. The study challenged the long-implied assumption that the construction community is composed of visual learners, while also differentiating between the levels of success for supporting figures based upon their degree of detail. Results of this study will provide the basis for the development of target costing material that is designed specifically for use in the education of construction industry professionals in Target Cost Estimating.

The real-estate faced serious recession recently in Taiwan, it caused several famous listed constructional investment companies to result in financial crisis. The constructional investment companies made high profit due to real-estate¡¦s prosperity in the past. Currently, it, however, faces heavy pressure on business operation due to recession in the real-estate. The auto-makers in Japan accepts target costing, because it helps companies to combine the cost management and strategic goals to enhance the companies¡¦ competition. The key point of this thesis, therefore, tries to analyze the target costing that applies to constructional investment companies; and ultimately attempts to provide a conceptual system that helps the companies to make decision. The research makes some propositions based on literatures, and other sources. Secondly, the difference between the current operations and target costing is understood. The final step attempts to modify the propositions according to company interviews; and as a result, contributions are made when the constructional investment companies evaluate and implement the target costing.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 138 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-72).

In the 1960’s, the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota developed target costing – a management accounting model that reduces the risk of releasing unprofitable products. The method eventually spread to Swedish firms. The study starts by summing recent previous research on target costing in Sweden (full description of these studies is available in Appendix I). Looking at this research, it is noted that there is an inconsistency with regards to what principles of target costing are used, and which are not. It is also noted that some firms are claimed to be used target costing and some firms are claimed not to be using it. No study, however, has tried to find an explanation to why some principles are implemented and why some are not. This is also the theoretical contribution of this thesis. More specifically, the research problems are therefore: (1) is target costing really implemented in a different way in Sweden as compared to Japan and (2), if so, why are there differences? It is further assumed that ideology could be a good explaining variable for the possible differences in implementation. In answering the first question, target costing is firstly described according to well-known books and articles on the subject. Following normative description, a presentation is made how target costing has been employed in Sweden. Secondary data based on three quantative studies is used here. These two descriptions are then contrasted against each other and it is found that target costing is implemented in a different way as compared to normative Japanese literature. Next, the second question is answered by constructing a theoretical framework based on ideological- and managerial assumptions of Japan and Sweden, respectively. This framework is then used to try to explain the differences mentioned above. Through the analysis it is observed that the Swedes’ lower priority of financial goal as well as their orientation towards the future are often used to explain the differences. These two aspects are also two of the main differences between Swedish and Japanese ideologies. It is therefore concluded that the differences might be explained using ideological assumptions, although there are probably other important factors as well. An implication of the result is that it is questionable whether target costing even will reach popularity in Sweden. Finally, it is also concluded that Likert-scales are not usefil when measuring target costing implementation

<p>In the 1960’s, the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota developed target costing – a management accounting model that reduces the risk of releasing unprofitable products. The method eventually spread to Swedish firms.</p><p>The study starts by summing recent previous research on target costing in Sweden (full description of these studies is available in Appendix I). Looking at this research, it is noted that there is an inconsistency with regards to what principles of target costing are used, and which are not. It is also noted that some firms are claimed to be used target costing and some firms are claimed not to be using it. No study, however, has tried to find an explanation to why some principles are implemented and why some are not. This is also the theoretical contribution of this thesis.</p><p>More specifically, the research problems are therefore: (1) is target costing really implemented in a different way in Sweden as compared to Japan and (2), if so, why are there differences? It is further assumed that ideology could be a good explaining variable for the possible differences in implementation.</p><p>In answering the first question, target costing is firstly described according to well-known books and articles on the subject. Following normative description, a presentation is made how target costing has been employed in Sweden. Secondary data based on three quantative studies is used here. These two descriptions are then contrasted against each other and it is found that target costing is implemented in a different way as compared to normative Japanese literature.</p><p>Next, the second question is answered by constructing a theoretical framework based on ideological- and managerial assumptions of Japan and Sweden, respectively. This framework is then used to try to explain the differences mentioned above. Through the analysis it is observed that the Swedes’ lower priority of financial goal as well as their orientation towards the future are often used to explain the differences. These two aspects are also two of the main differences between Swedish and Japanese ideologies.</p><p>It is therefore concluded that the differences might be explained using ideological assumptions, although there are probably other important factors as well. An implication of the result is that it is questionable whether target costing even will reach popularity in Sweden. Finally, it is also concluded that Likert-scales are not usefil when measuring target costing implementation</p>

Thesis (M.S. in Management of Technology)--Vanderbilt University, May 2005. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

This study explores the applicability of the top-down target costing (TC) method in the Taiwan real estate development industry by considering one new element ¡V creating buyer¡¦s perceived product value. The top-down method determines the target costs by subtracting target profit from less controllable sales price. It has been extensively studied in the context of assembly manufacturing industries. On the other hand, the real estate developers produce more heterogeneous products in monopolistically competitive market conditions. In order to adapt to this different user group, TC as an accounting and strategic management tool is expected to have unique characteristics once adopted in the real estate development industry. This study adopts a descriptive research design. By presenting evidences gathered from six real estate development firms it sheds lights on how the creation of buyer¡¦s perceived product value can be embedded into the target costing mechanism. By examining nine propositions, the study confirms the modified TC model is effective in stabilizing profits due to its focus on creating buyer¡¦s perceived product value. The contributing factors include the ability to charge premium prices as well as effective cost reductions. The findings revealed three unique characteristics of real estate development industry which may influence the adoption of TC model. Firstly, due to stronger bargaining power of the buyers and land owners as well as low entry barriers, the users of TC framework strive towards providing added product value higher than the product price in order to sustainably charge premium prices. It supplements the traditional accounting and strategic management literature in which expected profit margins were primarily achieved by managing costs. The study also reveals that the TC framework is more compatible with the differentiator and confrontational marketing strategies in real estate development industry. Secondly, the modified TC framework may better facilitate firms¡¦ profitability objectives especially during economic recessions. Thirdly, TC is more applicable at preliminary stages of product planning e.g. land investigation, but is less effective for component- level cost management due to certain market and operational limitations. Given the different needs of the property developers, the adaptation of the top-down target costing model in Taiwan real estate development industry is characterized by emphasizing on the creation of the buyer¡¦s perceived product value, as opposed to a pure cost focus in previous target costing literatures.

Target costing is widely accepted across the automobile manufacturing industries such as the Toyota Corporation followed by other manufacturing companies such as Nissan, Chrysler, Boeing, Sony, etc. However, its use in the construction industry has been limited. The application of target costing in the construction industry has been referred to as Target Value Design (TVD), which forms an important fragment of the whole lean delivery system, Integrated Project Delivery. For the purpose of studying the team dynamics and the impact of cost on aesthetics, this research is split in to the following two parts. 1. Conducting simple experiments /simulations with students, such as designing and building a product to target cost to explore the impact of cost on the design of the product and the team dynamics. 2. Exploring the challenges faced by the teams while working on TVD through literature review and Focus Group Interviews with construction industry professionals with experience in the TVD process. Similar to other lean simulations like the airplane game and the dice game, aimed at demonstrating the impact of lean, this simulation of designing a two feet (2’) tall wine glass holder with materials such as paper, Styrofoam plates, cups etc. is an attempt to understand the challenges of designing to target cost process. The simulation conducted is to mirror the real world TVD process. Results of the experiment conclude that cost does not have a negative influence on the design. There is no correlation between the high costs and better design, that is, the most expensive solutions are not always the best solutions. However, correlation existed between the target cost and the design aesthetics. Indeed, cost as a constraint aided the team in focusing on the design and developing solutions within the project constraints. The results of the experiment are similar to the practice of the TVD in reality as case studies and interviews arrive at similar conclusions. Finally, the experiment depicted that collaborating and working in a team might result in arguments but generates competitive design solutions without affecting the team dynamics. The research is of significance to construction industry professionals and owners to investigate the challenges and implications of implementing target costing in designing to target cost.