New product development is crucial for companies to remain strong and competitive in the market. Many companies today have implemented systems for controlling and managing their new product development. These control systems can be structured in a formal way with clear steps and criteria throughout the projects or in a more open-ended way where the projects follow a fuzzy front-end approach. Decision making is an immense factor in the control systems and the execution varies depending on its structure. The purpose with this thesis is to investigate the impact of which the structure of formal control systems as decision making tools, has on the creativity of members in new product development teams. Also, to explore which types of leadership behaviors in managers that best structure the formal control system for it to foster individual creativity. To fulfil this purpose, studies on how individuals perceive their work environment and their ability to be a part of the processes have been done.   This qualitative study was conducted by first building a theoretical framework which provided the research question, "How does the structure of formal control systems affect the creativity in individuals working in NPD teams?”. Data collection was done in a Swedish context using multiple case studies at various sized companies in diverse industries. Primarily through semi-structured interviews which then was followed up by secondary data. The collected data have been analysed by using a cross-case analysis where the identified themes developed an understanding that helped answer the research question. The findings provide value in the field with new insights in the management of innovation and new product development.

Today's fast-paced and increasingly competitive market has added pressure on companies and NPD-teams to improve both the quality of the products they provide, as well as the speed in which the products are introduced to the market. The main purpose within this study was to investigate two research questions; (a) How can various management- and leadership styles improve time efficacy without impairing the successes of the FFE of the NPD process; and (b) How can/does the uncertainty within the FFE affect project managers within the NPD process?Qualitative methods have been used within this study to gain a greater understating of the tasks and activities management have applied within the FFE to reduce and save time. A multiple case study, in the form of interviews, was performed in order to obtain raw empirical data. Eight interviews were conducted with individuals whom possessed managerial roles such as project managers, within the NPD process. The information was later analyzed and evaluated with the help of a thematic analysis.The main findings within this thesis contradict previous studies and literature which state the need for “more time” within the FFE of the NPD process. The result within this study suggest that project managers do not seek to extend the time provided within the FFE, rather identify task and methods which can enable them to use the time afforded wisely and efficiently. The managers do not seek to eliminate any tasks or activities; however, they do wish to identify less relevant activities in order to spend more time on valuable and beneficial tasks which increase the likely-hood of developing high quality products.

The video game industry in Sweden has experienced tremendous growth since 2009 with its revenue generation being compared to iron ore, an important revenue generator for the country. The ability of these firms to record recurrent increases in revenue is due to the innovativeness of the industry. External sources of knowledge affect firms’ innovative performance. However, the complexity of the knowledge acquired is influenced by the strength of ties between the firm and its counterparts. This study investigates how Swedish video game firms develop new products to stay competitive through their relationship with their strong ties counterparts, level of cooperation and firms’ absorptive capacity. We model strong ties relationship with latent constructs including closeness, commitment and trust. A nationally representative survey was conducted among selected video game firms across Sweden. Structural equation modelling was then utilized to assess the effect of strong ties on new product innovativeness. The results show that strong ties with external counterparts have a positive and statistically significant effect on new product innovation through the mediating channel of cooperation and absorptive capacity. Closeness, commitment and trust show a direct effect on cooperation, cooperation on absorptive capacity and absorptive capacity on new product innovativeness. The implications of these findings have been discussed.

Virtual reality is a rapidly growing innovation that has many real-world applications inengineering, healthcare, education and much more. More startups are emerging, and someof these companies are developing virtual reality simulators that allows the user toimmerse themselves completely in the virtual world with the use hardware devices.Companies like Infinadeck and Omnifinity have developed one such hardware known asthe walking simulator. This paper studied virtual reality and the barriers that occur whenlaunching a virtual reality walking simulator in the US for the entertainment industry. Theresearch was conducted on B2B companies that manufacture and use virtual realitywalking simulators with the addition of an industry outside of the entertainment industryto allow for comparison of the barriers. This study was a qualitative and comparativestudy based on a theoretical framework combined with empirical findings gathered fromeleven interviews with individuals from the manufacturers, entertainment center and themilitary. By analyzing and comparing the findings throughout this study, the authors canconclude that there are several barriers that can occur and affect launching a virtual realitywalking simulator process negatively. The barriers identified were price, hesitation to tryand reliability. These findings when analyzed with the theoretical framework identified that the emergence of these barriers was due to VR being such advanced technology. Thecustomers understanding of the value it creates is a determining factor when deciding tomake the purchase which showed to be highly complex with the VR walking simulator.The study also offers suggestions that can be taken for future research.

O processo de desenvolvimento de novos produtos (DNP) se torna cada vez mais uma questão de colaboração entre a equipe interna de desenvolvimento da empresa central e os fornecedores externos co-localizados ou distantes geograficamente. Cada vez mais, empresas tendem a terceirizar parte ou todo o desenvolvimento de produtos, devido ao fato de que o fornecedor é uma fonte de novas tecnologias e conhecimentos, além de ajudar a reduzir custos e riscos do projeto. Neste sentido, as tecnologias de informação e comunicações (TIC) constituem ferramentas de suporte para gerenciar as diferentes formas de colaboração com os fornecedores (colaborações do tipo white, grey e black box). Na literatura, as TIC têm sido reconhecidas como um fator importante para o sucesso do processo de DNP, mas são poucos os estudos focados em estudar a relação entre o uso das TIC e a colaboração com fornecedores. Além disso, a grande maioria destas pesquisas são pouco aprofundadas, apresentando poucas ferramentas e com aplicações limitadas no DNP. Assim o objetivo desde trabalho é analisar como podem ser usadas as TIC no DNP colaborativo dependendo dos três tipos de projetos de colaboração: white, grey e black box. O trabalho tem uma abordagem de métodos mistos, cominando etapas qualitativas e quantitativas. Em termos qualitativos, são explorados aspectos da literatura e estudos de casos em uma empresa multinacional. Enquanto em termos quantitativos, o trabalho apresenta uma pesquisa survey com 105 empresas que operam no Brasil. Como principais resultados obtiveram-se: (i) a identificação das TIC usadas no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos em um contexto inter-empresarial, (ii) a verificação do impacto do uso das TIC na performance do processo de desenvolvimento de produtos quando são aplicadas práticas colaborativas (iii) a proposição e verificação de um framework para o uso das TIC nos diferentes tipos de projetos colaborativos. Do ponto de vista acadêmico, esta dissertação permite compreender melhor o impacto e o uso das TIC para cada um dos tipos de projetos colaborativos. Do ponto de vista prático, este estudo apresenta uma solução para empresas que buscam competitividade e uma abertura no processo de DNP, através do uso das TIC como suporte para o mesmo. / The new product development (NPD) process increasingly becomes a matter of collaboration between the company’s internal product development team and its external suppliers, which can be co-located or geographically dispersed. Increasingly, companies tend to partially or fully outsource their development process, since suppliers are a source of new technologies and knowledge, and they can also help to reduce costs and risks of the development. The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) comprise tools that can support the management of three different collaborative product development projects with suppliers: white, grey and black box. In the literature, ICT are acknowledged to be an important factor for the success of the NPD process. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on studying the relationship between the use of ICT and the collaboration with suppliers, and the majority of studies have not treated the issue in depth, presenting only a few tools with limited application to the NPD. Thus, the objective of this research is to analyze how ICTs can be used in the collaborative NPD context depending on the three types of collaborative projects. This research uses a mix methods approach by combining qualitative and quantitative methodological stages. Qualitatively, the literature aspects and the cases studies of a multinational company is explored. Quantitatively, this research presents a survey with 105 companies that operate in Brazil. As the main results, we present: (i) the identification of the ICT used in the product development process in an inter-organizational context, (ii) the verification of the impact of ICT use in the product development process performance when collaborative practices are applied, (iii) the proposition and the verification of a framework for the use of ICT in the different types of collaborative projects. From the academic point of view, this research enables a better understanding of the impact and the use of ICT for each type of collaborative project with suppliers. From the managerial point of view, this study presents solutions for companies that seek competitiveness and openness of the NPD process through the use of ICT.

Esta tese fundamenta-se na necessidade que as empresas têm de aproveitarem os conhecimentos gerados nos projetos de produto de maneira que possam ser reutilizados em novos projetos a serem desenvolvidos, reduzindo assim esforços de desenvolvimento e melhorando o potencial inovador das equipes de produtos. Neste sentido, assume-se que existem fatores próprios do processo de desenvolvimento de produtos que podem ajudar a incentivar a TC. Porém muitos desses fatores e suas relações com outros fatores são pouco aprofundadas na literatura acadêmica. Em razão disso, esta tese propõe desenvolver um modelo para o incentivo da transferência de conhecimentos (TC) entre equipes de desenvolvimento de produto baseado na explicação das relações existentes entre os diversos fatores que influenciam a TC. A proposta desta tese está baseada em uma abordagem de pesquisa que combina aspectos qualitativos (como grupos focados, entrevistas e estudos de caso) e quantitativos (como pesquisas survey com análise multivariada de dados) aplicados em diferentes empresas (cerca de 80 nas etapas de levantamento e cinco nas etapas de aprofundamento). Por meio da utilização desses métodos obtiveram-se os seguintes resultados: (i) a proposição de um novo modelo para as etapas do processo da TC, baseado no estudo comparativo dos modelos existentes na literatura, que ajuda a entender como ocorre a TC desde o momento em que um conhecimento é reconhecido como útil para outros projetos até o momento em que o mesmo é aplicado em um novo projeto; (ii) a construção de uma taxonomia que classifica os fatores da TC em diferentes categorias, ajudando a entender melhor como os mesmos estão organizados; (iii) o estudo das características do contexto das empresas que define a prioridade que estas atribuem aos diferentes fatores da TC; (iv) a proposição de um modelo para os relacionamentos entre os fatores, que explica de maneira sistêmica a interação que ocorre entre os mesmos e (v) a proposição de um modelo para o relacionamento entre os fatores e as etapas da TC, que explica quais fatores agem de maneira direta ou indireta sobre as diferentes etapas da TC. Do ponto de vista acadêmico, os resultados ajudam a expandir o entendimento teórico sobre a TC no desenvolvimento de produtos, seguindo a corrente teórica da inovação contínua; e (ii) do ponto de vista profissional, os resultados permitem direcionar ações de melhoria da TC entre projetos, focalizando especificamente nas necessidades particulares de cada empresa. / This thesis proposes a model to foster knowledge transfer (KT) between new product development (NPD) teams. This proposal is based on companies’ need for taking advantage of knowledge generated in prior product projects by reusing it in new projects, thus reducing development efforts and improving team innovativeness. In this sense, this thesis assumes that there are organizational factors that present a general pattern of behavior and that can help to foster KT in NPD. However, an important challenge is to understand how these factors influence KT. Thus, the proposed model explains the relationships that exist among KT influence factors, as well as the relationships between these factors and the KT process stages. Furthermore, this thesis studies such relationships given different companies’ characteristics. This proposal is based on a mix-method research approach by combining qualitative studies (e.g. focus group, individual interviews, and study cases) and quantitative studies (e.g. surveys with multivariate data analysis) applied to different companies (circa 80 in the survey stage and five in the case studies). The following results were obtained, which contributed to the general proposal of the thesis: (i) a new model that explains KT process stages, based on a comparative study of prior models proposed in the academic literature; (ii) a taxonomy for KT influence factors; (iii) an analysis of firm contextual characteristics that help define the influence factors priorities; (iv) a model that explains the relationships among KT influence factors; and (v) a model that explains the relationship between KT influence factors and KT process stages. Considering these results, two main contributions of this thesis are highlighted: (i) from the academic point of view, results obtained help to extend the theoretical understanding about KT in NPD, based on the continuous innovation theoretical stream; (ii) from the practical point of view, results obtained allow to guide KT improvement in NPD, focusing on the specific needs of each company.

A Customização em Massa (CM) consiste em uma estratégia direcionada ao atendimento de necessidades específicas dos clientes mantendo os custos de produção próximos à produção em massa. Entre as alternativas para promover a implantação da CM, sugere-se a promoção de maior flexibilidade dos processos produtivos e um Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produto (PDP) orientado à CM. Como forma promover a CM por meio do PDP, este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver um instrumento para identificar e selecionar métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM mais indicadas para as particularidades do projeto de desenvolvimento de produto de cada empresa. Entre os resultados do trabalho está o levantamento desses métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP orientado à CM dispersas na literatura, assim como o desenvolvimento de mecanismos para a seleção destes métodos, ferramentas e técnicas para o PDP. Sua principal contribuição consiste no desenvolvimento de um repositório de conhecimentos para a gestão do processo de transformação do PDP da empresa para os benefícios da estratégia de CM. / Mass Customization seeks to meet customers specific needs while maintaining the low production costs associated with mass production. Its implementation passes through a greater flexibility of the manufacturing system and a New Product Development (NPD) process oriented to Mass Customization. This study aims to identify and select methods, tools and techniques for the New Product Development necessary for Mass Customization implementation. Its main achievement is the consolidation of a useful library of these methods, tools and techniques and a system to aid the selection of the most appropriate solution to implement Mass Customization.

Les équipes virtuelles deviennent de plus en plus courantes dans les organisations actuelles pour la conception de produit, service, système ou processus organisationnel. Etant donné que des partenaires potentiels de ces projets de conception peuvent être répartis dans de nombreux pays, ces organisations doivent accéder à des modes de communication dynamiques qui permettent cette mondialisation. De nombreuses organisations ont répondu aux contraintes d’un tel environnement dynamique par l’introduction d’équipes virtuelles. Celles-ci ont des caractéristiques particulières incluant la distance géographique, temporelle et des différences organisationnelles et culturelles. Dans notre travail, nous proposons une conception préliminaire d’un outil d’aide au montage d’équipes virtuelles dénommé Virtual Team Building Support System (VTB Support System). Le VTB Support System fonctionne comme un outil d’analyse, communication et planification du montage d’équipes virtuelles dans le domaine de développement de nouveaux produits. Cet outil est un support qui facilite la constitution d’une équipe virtuelle non seulement dans des organisations mais aussi dans des projets sans réelle structure organisationnelle. Le VTB Support System identifie des besoins et apporte des recommandations et des solutions techniques adaptables permettant la constitution d’une équipe virtuelle. Dans un environnement virtuel, les membres d’une équipe projet peuvent changer fréquemment, ceci nécessite d’identifier les exigences d’un système de support d’aide au montage de telles équipes. Le processus de constitution d’une équipe virtuelle ne se limite pas uniquement au développement du groupe et aux aspects ressources humaines ou des interactions humaines, mais prend également en compte l’organisation des processus de travail. Les recommandations pour la constitution d’équipes virtuelles sont considérées sous trois domaines qui sont précisément présentés dans notre travail par management de projet virtuel (VPM), management de compétence (CM) et l’interaction d’équipe virtuelle (VTI). Dans le but d’élaborer le VTB Support System, nous choisissons l’approche globale de l’analyse fonctionnelle. Cela nous permet d’identifier toutes les fonctions du VTB Support System qui décrivent les exigences d’un tel système. Ensuite, nous utilisons le Quality Function Deployment (QFD), en particulier la «maison de qualité», pour déduire des recommandations sur les fonctions les plus importantes détectées par l’analyse fonctionnelle. La maison de qualité permet de représenter dans une matrice les recommandations ou solutions techniques et les fonctions (issues d’une analyse fonctionnelle) et d’évaluer si une recommandation/ solution satisfait une ou plusieurs fonctions. Le VTB Support System est appliqué dans trois cas différents qui soulignent l’aspect générique du modèle. / Virtual teams become more and more courant in today’s organisations for New Product Development (NPD) of a new product, service, system or organisational process. As potential partners of those projects are spread out over countries, organisations need access to a dynamic communication to increase de-centralisation and globalisation of work processes. Many organisations have responded to this dynamic environment by introducing virtual teams. These virtual teams have specific characteristics including distance of geography or time and cultural or organisational differences. In this PhD thesis we provide a preliminary design of a tool of support to build virtual teams, named Virtual Team Building Support System (VTB Support System). The VTB Support System functions as tool of analysis, communication and planning for virtual team building in the domain of NPD. This tool is a support that facilitates the constitution of a virtual team not only in organisations but also in projects without a real organisational structure. The VTB Support System identifies requirements and provides recommendations and adaptable technical solutions that permit to build a virtual team. In a virtual environment, project members can change frequently, which necessitates to identify the requirements of a VTB Support System to build those virtual teams. The process of virtual team building is not just limited to team development under the aspect of human resources or human interactions but takes also the organisation of working processes into account. The recommendations for virtual team building take into consideration three domains that are precisely presented in this work as Virtual Project Management (VPM), Competence Management (CM) and Virtual Team Interaction (VTI). In order to provide the VTB Support System, we choose the holistic approach of the functional analysis. This allows us to identify all the functions of the VTB Support System that describe the requirements of such a system. Then, we use the tool of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), especially the “house of quality”, to deduce substantiated recommendations of the most important functions that are detected by the functional analysis. The house of quality allows representing the recommendations or technical solutions and the functions (issues of a functional analysis) in a matrix and to evaluate if a recommendation or a technical solution satisfies the demand of one or multiple functions. The VTB Support System is applied in three different cases, which underlines the generic aspect of the model.

A experimentação e testes com o uso de protótipos físicos ou simulação em computadores é uma prática utilizada para o desenvolvimento de diversos produtos industriais. As indústrias aeronáutica, automobilística, mecânica, naval, petrolífera e microeletrônica, entre outras, há muito empregam uma ou ambas as técnicas citadas. No entanto, inexistem referências ou estudos sobre a aplicação prática e conceitual desse assunto dentro do ambiente bancário mundial. O propósito desta pesquisa é descrever e interpretar os modos de experimentação empregados atualmente para a formação de fundos de investimento no mercado financeiro brasileiro e propor novos procedimentos para o seu desenvolvimento em analogia ao processo industrial. A metodologia proposta foi demonstrada com a utilização de dados reais levantados durante quatro anos no mercado financeiro para o desenvolvimento de um fundo aberto referenciado DI fictício simulados com o auxílio de técnicas de Dinâmica de Sistemas e de Inteligência Artificial. Os resultados reforçam as possibilidades de analogia entre o desenvolvimento de produtos industriais tangíveis e serviços intangíveis, quebrando paradigmas e propondo novos conceitos sob uma ótica renovadora para o desenvolvimento de produtos financeiros. O problema de otimização apresentado representa um novo campo de aplicação para o uso integrado de Dinâmica de Sistemas com algoritmos inteligentes, sendo que os algoritmos genéticos provaram ser uma ferramenta de suporte à decisão adequada para um ambiente competitivo e globalizado. / Experimentation and tests using physical prototypes or computer simulation are practices used in the development of various industrial products. The aeronautical, automobile, mechanical, naval, petroleum and micro-electronics industries have been using one or both of the mentioned techniques for a very long time. However, this issue has not been studied in detail in the banking area. The aim of this research is to describe and interpret the experimentation modes currently used in the Brazilian financial market in order to propose new procedures to develop investment funds akin to the industrial process. The proposed methodology was tested using 4 years of real data of the Brazilian financial market in order to develop a fictional investment fund based on Dynamic Systems and Artificial Intelligence (genetic algorithms) simulation principles. The results strengthen the possible analogy between the development of tangible industrial products and intangible services and propose new concepts according to an innovative development methodology for financial products. The related optimization problem represents a new field of application for Dynamic Systems combined with intelligent algorithms and, particularly, the Genetic Algorithms (GA) based model provided an efficient decision-making tool to be used in a competitive and globalized environment.

A realização de diagnóstico de processo auxilia a compreensão dos fatores internos e externos que influenciam o Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produtos (PDP) e de suas características, como capacidade técnica da equipe, forma como as atividades são organizadas, recursos disponíveis, exigências dos clientes ou poder de barganha com os fornecedores. No entanto nas últimas décadas não foi vista uma atenção especial aos métodos e ferramentas de diagnósticos voltados ao PDP. Analisando diagnósticos reais do PDP de empresas que utilizaram o método da árvore da realidade atual foi levantada a possibilidade de existir um conjunto significativo de problemas comum a todos os diagnósticos do PDP que poderiam servir de referência para diagnósticos futuros. O objetivo, portanto, desse trabalho é propor um método de diagnóstico que utiliza problemas recorrentes para aumentar a eficiência e eficácia do diagnóstico do PDP e apoiar a identificação de oportunidades de melhoria. O método proposto, denominado de Diagile, aprimorou o método de construção de árvore da realidade atual e é composto de melhores práticas de gestão de projetos e identificação e priorização de oportunidades de melhoria. Para apoiar a execução do método foi desenvolvida uma ferramenta de automação de diagnóstico (FAD) e uma planilha eletrônica para priorizar projetos de melhoria. As principais entregas da aplicação do Diagile são uma árvore da realidade atual e um portfólio de projetos de melhoria customizado por empresa. Para avaliar o método proposto foram executados um experimento controlado e dois estudos de casos. De acordo com os resultados do experimento, primeiramente, foi confirmado que a utilização do Diagile aumentou a eficiência da realização de diagnóstico comparado com a realização de um diagnóstico aplicando o método tradicional da árvore da realidade atual. Após as realizações dos estudos de caso, que serviram para avaliar o método, foi visto que as empresas ficaram satisfeitas com os resultados obtidos com o diagnóstico, relatando a boa qualidade das árvores e a pertinência dos projetos de melhoria sugeridos. Conclui-se que o objetivo desse trabalho foi atingido, demonstrando o aumento da eficiência e eficácia do diagnóstico utilizando o método proposto. / The execution of process diagnostic assists the comprehension of internal and external factors that influence the product developing process (NPD) and its characteristics such as team technical capacity, way that the activity are organized, available resources, client requirements or suppliers negotiation power. In the last decades, any special attention it was given to the diagnostic methods and tools focused to NPD process. The analysis of real NPD diagnosis cases from enterprises that used the reality tree method suggested the possibility that it may found a significant group of problems that are common to all NPD diagnostic that can be used as reference for future diagnosis. The objective of this work is to propose a diagnostic method based on the use of recurrent problems to increase the efficiency and efficacy of the NPD diagnosis and assist the identification of improvements opportunities. The proposed method, called Diagile, is based on the construction of the current reality tree and is composed of project management best practices prioritizing improvements opportunities. To support the application of the proposed method a computational diagnostic tool and an electronic spread sheet has been developed to prioritize project improvements. The main deliverables of the application of Diagile are a current reality tree and a customized portfolio of improvements project of the company. To evaluate the proposed method a controlled experiment and two cases studies was performed. According to the experiment results, it was first possible to confirm that the use of Diagile increased the efficiency of the diagnostic execution when compared with the performance of the diagnosis using the traditional current reality tree method. After the execution of the two case studies, that was used to evaluate the proposed method, if has been confirmed that the companies where satisfied with the obtained diagnostic results, reporting the good quality of the tree and the importance of the suggested improvement projects. With this it has been concluded that the objective of this work was complete, and that the proposed method and tools increase the efficiency and efficacy of the NPD diagnosis.