Accelerating Distributed New Product Development by Exploiting Information and Communication Technology

Enterprises are increasingly under pressure through globalization of markets, rapid advances in technology, and increasing customer expectations. In order to create and sustain a competitive advantage in this environment, adaptation of value generating activities is required. One of the value generating activities and the focus of the Ph.D. thesis is new product development (NPD). Especially the duration of NPD is a central success factor, as it has direct implications on its profitability and also on the strategic position of an enterprise. Efforts to accelerate NPD typically focus on increasing efficiency by exploiting potentials in the design of the product, the organizational structures, or the development process. Utilization of information and communication technology (ICT) for this purpose is dominated by support for actual engineering activities e.g. through computer-aided systems (CAx). The acceleration of NPD related processes supported by ICT especially beyond the boundaries of a single enterprise has received much less widespread acceptance and utilization so far. The specific question to be answered by the Ph.D. thesis in this context is therefore how to accelerate distributed NPD by exploiting ICT. The research results will be used for further development of existing software applications supporting NPD.