Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

As business, technologies, and products changes so quickly in the modern day business environment, the complexity of launching new products into global markets increases. Therefore, the significance of the new product development (NPD) concept is rising, according to researchers. This master thesis is based, through a preliminary literature review, on the assumption that traditional NPD frameworks have deficiencies today. This is because as a NPD process is an on-going process that is performed repeatedly, the importance of putting forth new considerations to the NPD based on multi-aspect industrial characteristics today is needed for a sustainable NPD framework. Therefore, this study will put forth a new multi-aspect NPD framework with emphasis on technological-, global collaboration-, and financial elements to target the literature gap that is claimed to exist. The process of the research methodology followed a deductive approach, with an explorative-, descriptive- and analytical study. The collected data was of qualitative type, through 12 semi-structured interviews. A total of six Swedish high-technological manufacturing firms were interviewed, four of which were for empirical purposes, and two for contextual understanding. The author came to the conclusion that various deviations were found in setting the multi-aspect NPD approach in contrast to traditional NPD frameworks. The significance of “Open Innovation” concepts was adamant as being the stepping-stone for idea generation, conceptualization, and strategic partnership that was not brought up by traditional literature. Openness in all elements of the multiple-aspect NPD framework setup in this study was imperative, as the empirical findings suggested that the business environment for high-technological industries shifted towards an increased technological- and financial convergence. During the latter stages, minor deviations were found, with emphasis on collaboration elements between the R&D-, production- and marketing divisions within the firms.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate factors which influences product launch strategies.

aFor many years innovation has been an integral part of improvements to products and services. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been known as innovation generators, and their importance is paramount for the growth of economy. And yet despite their great importance, there is still a lack of understanding about how SMEs and High-tech SMEs (HTSMEs) with complex products conduct their management of innovation of New Product Development (NPD). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a foundation for addressing the suggested gaps in the literature and to show that further research is needed in innovation management of NPD and how it is connected to HTSMEs. Renewable energy wind turbine sources and the potential growth they represent for SMEs was a factor in choosing this sector as the subject of this research. HTSMEs with creative ideas and innovations of complex products need to adequately manage product development. This recognises the organisation's practices and processes during NPD and the need for innovation management (IM) as a part of an organisation's capabilities in order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). The aim of this thesis is to explore and validate a major qualitative abductive methodology from the findings of 21 High-tech Small Medium Enterprises management in relation to complex wind turbine invention-innovation (creative destruction) practices and processes during the NPD. Analysis, synthesis, and conclusions from the findings of this study are interpreted and discussed in the context of the definition, concepts, characteristics, theoretical, and conceptual framework. Finally, implications for managerial practice offer a deeper understanding of how HTSME manage innovation practices and processes occur during NPD building a superior product and recommendations for further research that can be valuable to academics, practitioners, and other researchers who are seeking ideas for research topics are presented and discussed.

Tato diplomová práce je primárně zaměřena na problematiku projeků vývoje nového výrobku (NPD). Cílem je analyzovat problematiku vývoje nového výrobku, jakožto samostatné disciplíny projektového řízení. Dále představit a podrobněji popsat, u nás méně známý, nástroj pro podporu a koordinaci projektů PD-Trak? a analyzovat podporu jeho funkcí metodikou PMBOK. Nástroj je přímo určen pro projekty NPD. Nakonec se budu věnovat vývoji nového výrobku ve společnosti Opavia-Lu a.s. a srovnání této metodiky vývoje s metodikou PMBOK.

Suppliers provide new technology to firms and are important in firms‟ NPD. It is not sufficient for firms to select the most appropriate technology; they must also select the most appropriate supplier for their NPD. The purpose of this licentiate thesis is to map and identify criteria used in the process of selecting a suitable supplier, and explore the role of Purchasing in NPD collaborative projects. This thesis is based on case study research where two NPD projects have been studied. The case sampling consisted of searching for projects that were believed to be rich in information about the process of supplier selection. Both studied were conducted at ABB, which is a large high-tech system integration firm. ABB was a good firm to study because as a company, it is used to implementing new technology from suppliers. The data collection consisted of interviews, factory visits, internal and external documents. The data gathered was analysed by conducting content analysis and then using categorization to structure it. In addition, within-case analysis as well as cross-case analysis were performed. The research process was inductive and its purpose was formed throughout the on-going studies. This study has identified and categorised criteria for selecting a supplier that is suitable to become involved in NPD projects. Both criteria from existing literature and from the NPD projects studied are mapped into a process model of supplier selection in which they are classified into three categories: product and production factors, firm characteristics and relational criteria. The main findings from this study are criteria that firms use in their assessment and selection of suppliers. These supplier assessment criteria can be divided into basic, product and firm criteria. One difficult element to consider is the uncertainty of an NPD project. The thesis argues that uncertainty can be divided into technological and strategic uncertainty. Additional criteria to consider in supplier selection are divided into technological, business and relational-specific criteria. This study has investigated the role of Purchasing in NPD and argues that Purchasing can be a trouble-shooter. This role can solve problems that emerge in collaborative NPD projects that involve suppliers. The types of problems that a trouble-shooter can solve are concerned with lack of commitment and interest from the supplier or conflicts when the supplier has changed its strategy. To solve these problems, Purchasing does not need to be present during the whole NPD project, but can have the role of a trouble-shooter and become involved in the project when the problems have emerged. By not being a part of the NPD team, Purchasing can evaluate the situation objectively without affecting the personal relationships that exist among the individuals in the NPD.

Område: Utvecklingen idag går allt snabbare vilket gör att företag behöver bli mer konkurrenskraftiga, ett sätt att bli det är genom innovation. Det kräver ett aktivt ställningstagande och ett sätt att genomföra detta är med hjälp av innovationsprocesser. Ett annat konkurrensverktyg som blir alltmer viktigt är design. Dessa två begrepp går att bryta ner i en rad faktorer och kan ses ur flera persektiv. Syfte:  Syftet med denna uppsats är att förstå skillnader och likheter mellan innovations- och designprocesser samt se hur de kan komplettera varandra. Metod: Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod och har genomfört intervjuer med tre olika företag. Dessa tre företag har sedan analyserats och jämförts med teori och med varandra. Teorier inom respektive område har även jämförts med varandra. Slutsatser: Vi har kommit fram till att innovations- och designprocesser kan ses som olika nivåer. Innovationsprocesser är mer övergripande kring hela organisationen och designprocesser är snarare mer detaljerad kring produktutvecklingen. Därför kan designprocesserna även sägas vara en del av innovationsprocessen, ett verktyg. Vi såg även att det fanns nio faktorer i praktiken som var viktiga för innovationsprocessen, nämligen en innovationsfrämjande organisationskultur, stödjande ledarskap, personalens delaktighet och engagemang, projektbaserad innovation, multidisciplinära team, bra kommunikation, kundinvolvering, omvärldsbevakning och utvärderingar/reflektion. Utifrån dessa slutsatser skapade vi en egen modell med inspiration från befintliga modeller. / Field: Because of the faster development today, companies need to become more competitive and one way is through innovation. It requires an active standpoint and one way to achieve this is through innovation processes. Another competitive tool that is becoming increasingly important is design. These two concepts can be broken down into a number of factors and can be viewed from several perspectives. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to understand similarities and differences between innovation and design processes, and to see how they can complement each other. Method: We have used a qualitative method and have conducted interviews with three different companies. These three companies have then been analyzed and compared with theory and with each other. Theories in each field have also been compared with each other. Conclusions: We have come to the conclusion that innovation and design processes can be viewed as different levels. Innovation processes are more general and about the entire organization and design processes are rather more detailed on product development. The design process can therefore also be said to be part of the innovation process, a tool. We also saw that there were nine factors in practice that were important to the innovation process, namely to foster innovation in the organizational culture, supportive leadership, staff involvement and engagement, project-based innovation, multidisciplinary teams, good communication, customer involvement, business intelligence and evaluation / reflection. Based on these findings, we created our own model, inspired by existing models.

This study analyzes the economic and demographic patterns of at-home pork consumption for representative individuals over 18 years of age in the United States. Three data sets purchased by the National Pork Board (NPB) are mined for this purpose: (1) National Eating Trends (NET) data from National Panel Diary (NPD) on individuals' intake and their demographic characteristics; (2) weekly retail prices for fresh meats and fresh pork cuts from FreshLook; and (3) weekly retail prices for processed pork products from A.C. Nielsen. Heckman sample selection models are used to find demographic, health, and attitudinal/lifestyle patterns of consumption of twelve fresh and processed pork products as well as beef, chicken, and seafood. In the fall, individuals have a higher probability of eating beef, chicken, pork tenderloin, and bacon, but a lower probability of eating fresh seafood, canned ham, and smoked ham relative to the spring. The New England region has the highest likelihood of eating fresh pork, beef, chicken, seafood, pork roasts, pork tenderloin, and pork hotdogs. Blacks, on average, eat more fresh and processed pork, chicken, pork sausage, bacon, and canned ham, but less beef relative to whites. Concern about serving food with fat is negatively related with the likelihood of eating processed pork, lunchmeat, ham, and bacon, but it is positively related with the likelihood of eating pork hotdogs. A three-stage selectivity-adjusted censored LA/AIDS model is developed and estimated to find demand-price relationships for: (1) fresh meats (pork, beef, chicken, and seafood) and (2) nine fresh and processed pork cuts. However, aggregate fresh meats are substitutes for each other in at-home market, but there are substantial complementarities between pork cuts. Pork sausage is the major competitor for the processed products, pork roasts and pork tenderloin, but a major complement for pork ribs. There is relatively week substitutability between pork and beef, and relatively strong substitutability between pork and chicken and between beef and chicken. This could suggest opportunities for some joint marketing efforts between pork and beef commodity interests. This information can be used as a guide for marketing strategists for targeting and promotion as well as for category management of the disaggregated pork products.

Telecommuting has become a globalized phenomenon after the Covid-19 pandemic. Itallowed technological improvements which made this context easier to handle forcoworkers. Because it can improve personal comfort and quality of life, and allowflexibility, companies are adopting this way of working widely so it makes it aninteresting topic to study. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to understand theeffects that telecommuting has on teamwork efficiency and particularly on new productdevelopment teams. The study was conducted with two project teams working on new ITproducts development from two different French companies.The current literature is mainly focused on the individual effects and consequences oftelecommuting towards team members, at the expense of collective effects. Little researchwas made to link collective consequences to the existent teamwork efficiency criteria.Furthermore, the solutions to address the challenges created by telecommuting, andespecially the ideal rhythm of work to have, are not sufficiently studied in the literature.To address these gaps, our research was conducted using a qualitative methodology whichallowed us to understand better how telecommuting is impacting teamwork efficiency innew product development project teams and how they can face these challenges.In order to do this, we conducted fourteen interviews with two different project teams:one composed of five coworkers, and the other one composed of nine coworkers. It helpedus to gain a better understanding of how telecommuting is experienced collectively byteam members. We analyzed the data through the use of coding, which allowed us todiscover six main themes: interactions, home-office balance, tools and methodologies,teamwork efficiency characteristics and behaviors, outcomes on new productdevelopment and future considerations. Finally, we were able to understand thatindividual, and mainly collective direct consequences of telecommuting influenceteamwork efficiency characteristics and behaviors adopted by the team members, whichwould make them develop strategies and solutions to answer these challenges.

No description available.