Over the past decade, firms in the auto industry have focused much of their attention on new product development performance

Draft

Over the past decade, firms in the auto industry have focused much of their attention on new product development performance. This paper reports on a follow-up study to Clark and Fujimotos research on product development performance in the 1980s. We find that US and European firms have made significant strides in meeting Japanese product development performance. Driving this improvement have been changes in the use of suppliers, in overlapping phases of the development process, and in the type of project management system used. We also find that Korean auto makers are relatively efficient in terms of lead time and engineering productivity, although final design quality is lower. The narrowing of the competitive gap in the management of individual projects may point to product line performance as a future driver of competitive advantage.

Clark, Kim B.
Takahiro, Fujimoto
Young-suk, Hyun

Ellison, David J.

product line
auto industry
product development performance
Japan
United States

product line
auto industry
product development performance
Japan
United States