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Scheller College of Business
Scheller College of Business
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ItemEssays on knowledge management strategies in new product development(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-01-02) Ozkan, Gulru F.Management of knowledge involved in the new product development (NPD) projects is critical to the success of firms competing in environments that require rapid innovation. Unfortunately, many firms lack an understanding of how to develop knowledge management (KM) strategies that drive successful outcomes. In this thesis I develop a rich and multifaceted understanding of how KM strategies drive successful NPD outcomes. I examine KM strategies for NPD at two different decision making levels. First, I consider the how the manager of a single NPD project should pursue knowledge acquisition for its product and process design teams and knowledge transfer between the teams over time throughout the development project. The ability to develop and integrate knowledge drives the net revenue earned at the product release time. I show that two different dynamic KM strategies arise: a delay strategy and a front-loading strategy. I characterize drivers of each strategy and the drivers of the market entry time strategy. In contrast to the deterministic approach above, I introduce a stochastic model. The manager of a single NPD project maximizes expected net revenue which reflects the effectiveness of product and process development. I consider the effect of rework that occurs as a result of the KM activities. Although manager's strategies for knowledge creation satisfy either the delay or front-loading strategy the drivers of each strategy in this model are substantially different from those in the first model reflecting the stochastic nature of the project and the effect of rework. In a third model, I consider the strategic level question of how a firm engages in relationships with its competitor regarding the sharing or transfer of knowledge resources for NPD. I consider two cooperative mechanisms: knowledge transfer when both firms ultimately enter the market separately as competitors versus knowledge sharing when both firms enter the market together following the joint development of a new product. In this thesis, I develop the KM strategies followed by the firms for each cooperation mechanism. In addition, I analyze the impact of firm and market characteristics on firms decision to whether to cooperate or not, and other KM decisions.
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ItemStrata, Structure, and Strategy for Resource Allocation and New Product Development Portfolio Management(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007-07-09) Chao, Raul O.Innovation and new product development (NPD) are critical to firm success and are often cited as means to a sustained competitive advantage. Unfortunately, the question of which innovation programs to pursue and how they should be funded is not trivial. This thesis examines the resource allocation and NPD portfolio problem. Special emphasis is placed on the organizational and behavioral factors that influence this problem. In doing so, we adopt a hierarchical perspective and posit that the resource allocation and NPD portfolio problem acquires a unique structure depending on the level at which the problem is considered. Beginning at the firm level, each study attempts to break open a black box to understand the drivers of effective resource allocation and NPD portfolio decisions at successively more detailed levels of analysis. We begin with an analysis of the firm's total R&D investment and we show how R&D intensity (the percentage of revenue that is reinvested in R&D) depends on a combination of NPD portfolio metrics and operational variables. We then extend the analysis to reveal how a simple evolutionary process explains the often cited consistency in R&D intensity at the industry level. Next, we analyze how the R&D investment is partitioned into "strategic buckets" consisting of NPD programs that are characterized by type of innovative activity (incremental or radical). We show how time commitment, technological/market complexity, and potential disruptions to the technology/market environment influence the balance between incremental and radical programs in the NPD portfolio. Finally, we analyze how individual NPD programs are funded and how they evolve over time in an organization setting that is defined by more or less autonomy. We find that how best to allocate resources depends on two types of autonomy bestowed upon managers: autonomy with respect to NPD funding and autonomy regarding how the NPD budget is monitored and controlled. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of our work.
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ItemJoint Product Development and Inter-firm Innovation(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-05-18) Erat, SanjivThis thesis examines the strategic drivers and processes governing the development of products and/or technologies by multiple economic entities. The thesis adopts an operational approach in addressing the question and examines the how of joint product development. For this purpose, the different mechanisms that enable joint product development licensing, outsourced development, and codevelopment are considered, and the focus is restricted to the analysis and characterization of the optimal management of joint product development mechanisms. Regarding the mechanism of licensing, the thesis examines both its dynamic inter-temporal implications (i.e., how licenses should be structured given that licensing will also occur in the future) as well as the role of the technology in question (i.e., how are licenses affected by the type of technology being licensed). Along the first dimension, the thesis finds that license fees (and the negotiation with potential licensees) may be structured so as to induce a controlled diffusion depending on the technology roadmap the provider firm has laid out for the future. On the second dimension, the study finds that when the technological solution being licensed requires minimal integration from the licensees side, it may be beneficial to restrict attention to a few potential licensees instead of licensing to the entire market. On the codevelopment side, the thesis presents an original case study that uncovers some of the salient features present in many joint development efforts. Subsequently, a mathematical model is proposed that captures the key dimensions of the phenomenon that were identified through the case study. Analysis of the normative model reveals the key role of market and development uncertainty in structuring the formal contractual agreements and sharing the value created through the codevelopment effort.