Innovation-based competition and the dynamics of design in upstream suppliers

Christophe Midler, Sylvain Lenfle

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 2001, vol. 1, issue 2/3, 269-286

Abstract: Although the evolution of the design process in car manufacturers and their first-tier suppliers has been studied extensively, the situation is different for upstream industries, usually chemical and steel firms. This article focuses on such an upstream supplier situation based on interactive research with a major European steel-making group, Usinor. In the first part, we demonstrate that innovation-based competition is a significant issue for companies situated upstream from end-product manufacturers. The accelerating pace of the (re)design of end products downstream provides increasing opportunities for the substitution of raw materials. The importance of this issue is obscured, however, by considerable inertia in the spread of innovations through the sector. Next, the article characterises the specificities of implementing an innovative design strategy due to the activity and position of the firm in the industrial chain. The conclusions will make it clear that design models developed for car manufacturers and first tier suppliers are in many ways unsuitable for this different context. We finally propose five principles to evaluate and define an innovation management system in upstream suppliers.

Keywords: innovation; management; design organisation; steel industry. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=39 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijatma:v:1:y:2001:i:2/3:p:269-286

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().