Concept Engineering: an investigation of TIME vs. MARKET orientation in product concept development. PDF
Preview Concept Engineering: an investigation of TIME vs. MARKET orientation in product concept development.
Concept Engineering: An TIME MARKET investigation of vs. orientation in product concept development by Gary W. Burchill // BSE Duke University (1978) MBA Harvard University (1987) Submitted to the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN MANAGEMENT at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 1993 © Gary Burchill 1993. All rights reserved The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly copies of this thesis document in whole or in part. Concept Engineering: An TIME MARKET investigation of vs. orientation in product concept development by Gary W. Burchill Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN MANAGEMENT 10 May 1993 ABSTRACT This thesis introduces Concept Engineering, the result of an extensive collaborative research effort with product development professionals from member companies of the Center for Quality Management, as a complete decision support process for enhancing product concept development. Concept Engineering applies the principles and practices ofTotal Quality Management to develop customer-focused product concepts. The simultaneous introduction of Concept Engineering into product development organizations in three different companies created an opportunity for a comparative study of the product concept decision process. The comparative analysis is conducted using Inductive System Diagrams, a method introduced in this research, for systematic field- based hypothesis generation. Inductive System Diagrams combine aspects of grounded theory methods and system dynamics to develop and communicate substantive theories intimately tied to the data. The cross-company comparative analysis of product development teams, some using and others not using Concept Engineering, led to the generation of a dynamic hypotheses regarding the impact of a relative emphasis on TIME vs. MARKET orientation during the product concept decision process. It is proposed that a relative emphasis on TIME reduces concept development time but increases total product development time compared to a relative emphasis on MARKET orientation during product concept development. The MARKET orientation results in design objectives with higher clarity, credibility and stability. TIME orientation led to relatively lower design objective clarity and credibility resulting in product concept changes during downstream development activities thus increasing the total development time. Acknowledgments To my wife Diane and children Lauren, Mark, Mary and Matthew — you have put up with a lot so that I might have this opportunity; without your support during these often trying times I would not have made it. To my mother — and father I thank you for teaching me the importance of learning from others and giving me the confidence to trust my own judgment. To professors Charlie Fine and Shoji Shiba, Dave Walden and Diane Shen — I owe an enormous debt ofgratitude for the confidence, encouragement and support you provided; without it this would not have happened. To professors John Carrol, Don Clausing, Stephen Graves, John Sterman, — Bob Thomas and Karl Ulrich your advice and counsel has tremendously improved my own understanding and greatly enhanced the quality of this research. To Dr. Tom Lee and all of the members and managers of the product development teams (you know who you are but I promised not to tell) associated — with this study from the Center for Quality Management I could not have done without you. it — To my friends on the faculty, staff and student body of the Sloan School thanks for listening when I needed to talk. To the United States Navy, Center for Quality Management, International Center for Research on the Management of Technology, and Leaders for — Manufacturing Program I will be forever grateful for this opportunity.
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