MAKE-TO-CONCEPT: A "SOLUTION-BASED" APPROACH TO COMPLEX NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Lihong Zhang (), David Bryde () and Joanne Meehan ()
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Lihong Zhang: Senior Lecturer in Operations and Innovation Management, Liverpool Business School, Centre for Stakeholder Research (CESTA), Liverpool John Moores University, John Foster Building, 98 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, L3 5UZ, UK
David Bryde: Reader in Project Management, School of the Built Environment, Faculty of Technology and the Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, John Foster Building, 98 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, L3 5UZ, UK
Joanne Meehan: Senior Lecturer in Strategic Purchasing, Liverpool Business School, Centre for Stakeholder Research (CESTA), Liverpool John Moores University, John Foster Building, 98 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, L3 5UZ, UK

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), 2011, vol. 15, issue 02, 279-301

Abstract: Achieving close and on-going co-ordination between the various stakeholders involved in the product design and process development has been a main issue in complex new product development (CoNPD). Challenges arise in balancing product innovation and process optimisation, particularly when business customers place an order with a requirement featured as open system specification (OSS). This paper examines CoNPD projects in two international engineering companies based in the UK. The aim is to explore the use of specification management, with a particular focus on the project stakeholders that are both internal and external to the companies. Analysis of the data reveals issues associated with how the stakeholders interact to: manage the risks of associated with OSS projects, develop solution-based approaches and deal with the novelty of technology integration. The research findings provide evidence for amake-to-conceptspecification management process for contracted CoNPD projects. In doing so, the paper makes a contribution towards developing an approach to solution-oriented businesses that is informed by a rich understanding of how project stakeholders work together to manage CoNPD projects.

Keywords: Project stakeholders; complex new product development; open system specification; project interfacing/interaction/coordination; stakeholder engagement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1142/S1363919611003167

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