Building competitive advantage through platform-based product family thinking: Case powerpacks

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss through the main aspects and principles of successful platform-based product family development and management. For example car industry and car manufacturers take advantage of platform-based product families while solving the conflict of balancing between wide product variety and operational efficiency. This is a common dilemma also in some other manufacturing companies operating on versatile markets; how to serve individual customer needs with minimum development, manufacturing and service efforts? Product families are in this paper seen as an answer. Thus, the aim of this paper is to promote the adoption of often complex and risky product family development especially in technology and manufacturing focused companies. To be able to minimize risks and maximize the advantages companies need to understand the dynamics of the product family thinking presented in this paper. Design/methodology/approach: After a literature survey the main aspects and principles of the product family thinking are illustrated through a case example from a company designing and manufacturing hydraulic piling equipment. Findings: The case study shows that as universal practices are missing the “best practice” in product family development is always dependent on the nature of the company and its products. It is also evident that gaining long-term competitive advantage through product family thinking will not happen without continuous learning and investments in both time and resources. Originality/value: This paper presents the main aspects and principles of the platform-based product family thinking in a systematic and hierarchical manner by connecting together platforming, architecture design, strategic aspects and management perspectives.Peer Reviewe

The Development and Design of Activities to Support Performance Based and Integrated Math Instruction for Fifth Grade Students

The purpose of the project was to develop and design activities and materials to support performance based integrated mathematics instruction for fifth grade students in the concept areas of place value, decimals, percents, and fractions. The activities and materials were prepared in conjunction with other disciplines, namely reading, writing, art, science, and social studies. The intent was to make mathematics relevant to real life with stress on student performance as an indicator of knowledge, understanding, and application. The activities make use of performance based, integrated, and real life situations, and the materials include technology, field trips, gaming, manipulatives, recording sheets, and portfolios. The activities and materials are presented in the form of a handbook

Stochastic modeling of responsiveness, schedule risk and obsolescence of space systems, and implications for design choices

The U.S Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration continue to face common challenges in the development and acquisition of their space systems. In particular, space programs repeatedly experience significant schedule slippages, and spacecraft are often delivered on-orbit several months, sometimes years, after the initially planned delivery date. The repeated pattern of these schedule slippages suggests deep-seated flaws in managing spacecraft delivery and schedule risk, and an inadequate understanding of the drivers of schedule slippages. Furthermore, due to their long development time and physical inaccessibility after launch, space systems are exposed to a particular and acute risk of obsolescence, resulting in loss of value or competitive advantage over time. The perception of this particular risk has driven some government agencies to promote design choices that may ultimately be contributing to these schedule slippages, and jeopardizing what is increasingly recognized as critical, namely space responsiveness. The overall research objective of this work is twofold: (1) to identify and develop a thorough understanding of the fundamental causes of the risk of schedule slippage and obsolescence of space systems; and in so doing, (2) to guide spacecraft design choices that would result in better control of spacecraft delivery schedule and mitigate the impact of these "temporal risks" (schedule and obsolescence risks). To lay the groundwork for this thesis, first, the levers of responsiveness, or means to influence schedule slippage and impact space responsiveness are identified and analyzed, including design, organizational, and launch levers. Second, a multidisciplinary review of obsolescence is conducted, and main drivers of system obsolescence are identified. This thesis then adapts the concept of a technology portfolio from the macro- or company level to the micro-level of a single complex engineering system, and it analyzes a space system as a portfolio of technologies and instruments, each technology with its distinct stochastic maturation path and exposure to obsolescence. The selection of the spacecraft portfolio is captured by parameters such as the number of instruments, the initial technology maturity of each technology/instrument, the resulting heterogeneity of the technology maturity of the whole system, and the spacecraft design lifetime. Building on the abstraction of a spacecraft as a portfolio of technologies, this thesis then develops a stochastic framework that provides a powerful capability to simultaneously explore the impact of design decisions on spacecraft schedule, on-orbit obsolescence, and cumulative utility delivered by the spacecraft. Specifically, this thesis shows how the choice of the portfolio size and the instruments Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) impact the Mean-Time-To-Delivery (MTTD) of the spacecraft and mitigate (or exacerbate) schedule risk. This work also demonstrates that specific combinations/choices of the spacecraft design lifetime and the TRLs can reduce the risk of on-orbit obsolescence. This thesis then advocates for a paradigm shift towards a calendar-based design mindset, in which the delivery time of the spacecraft is accounted for, as opposed to the traditional clock-based design mindset. The calendar-based paradigm is shown to lead to different design choices, which are more likely to prevent schedule slippage and/or enhance responsiveness and ultimately result in a larger cumulative utility delivered. Finally, missions scenarios are presented to illustrate how the framework and analyses here proposed can help identify system design choices that satisfy various mission objectives and constraints (temporal as well as utility-based).PhDCommittee Chair: Saleh Joseph; Committee Member: Brown Owen; Committee Member: Erwin R. Scott; Committee Member: Feron Eric; Committee Member: Mavris Dimitr

Fuel Prices and Environment-Friendly Innovations. Evidence from the Automobile Industry

This paper empirically examines the relationship between fuel prices and patenting activity in environment-friendly technologies in the auto industry across the OECD countries for the period 1994-2011. Overall, the results suggest that tax-inclusive fuel price affects innovative activity in environment-friendly technologies. More specifically, the analysis shows that the technologies aiming to reduce the amount of fossil fuel combusted by vehicle are induced by fuel prices. Thus, innovations in electric and hybrid propulsion, as well as innovations aimed at the improved fuel-efficiency are fostered by rising prices. At the same time, the estimation results suggest that innovative activity in the integrated emissions control is negatively affected by fuel price and by the stringency of policies. Whereas innovations in post-combustion technologies are insensitive to price changes and are fostered by the toughening regulation

Inference for Large Panel Data with Many Covariates

This paper proposes a novel testing procedure for selecting a sparse set of covariates that explains a large dimensional panel. Our selection method provides correct false detection control while having higher power than existing approaches. We develop the inferential theory for large panels with many covariates by combining post-selection inference with a novel multiple testing adjustment. Our data-driven hypotheses are conditional on the sparse covariate selection. We control for family-wise error rates for covariate discovery for large cross-sections. As an easy-to-use and practically relevant procedure, we propose Panel-PoSI, which combines the data-driven adjustment for panel multiple testing with valid post-selection p-values of a generalized LASSO, that allows us to incorporate priors. In an empirical study, we select a small number of asset pricing factors that explain a large cross-section of investment strategies. Our method dominates the benchmarks out-of-sample due to its better size and power

An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?

Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction

The Impact of Strategic Fit on Innovation Performance: Focusing on Manufacturing Industry

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 공과대학 협동과정 기술경영·경제·정책전공, 2017. 8. 강진아.In a rapidly changing business management environment, continuous technological innovation is necessary in order to sustain a competitive advantage. However, technological innovation, by itself, does not necessarily guarantee success in firm management. There are many examples of firms that have failed to create values through technological innovation, despite the fact that they possess excellent innovative resources. I can easily find examples of firms that have failed to innovate because they could not seamlessly integrate their internal and external resources and because of inconsistencies in the strategies within the organization. The mutual interaction of various stakeholders, including top management teams (TMTs), suppliers, competitors and shareholders in exploring and developing innovative technologies, the convergence of a firms resources within a consistent strategy direction, and the creation of a synergistic effect are important. In other words, the way in which all the resources of technological innovation align is important in improving innovative performance. This dissertation emphasizes the importance of strategic fit in firm innovation. This study first criticizes that the concept of fit is used inconsistently and indiscriminately in many literatures, and develop a framework of strategic fit that is suitable for the study in technological innovation. Based on this framework, this dissertation examines the effect of the strategic fit of various factors, especially centered on the three major factors such as the top management team attribute, the internal context as well as the external context of the firm. As the first study, this dissertation examines the effect of TMT cognitive characteristics on fir innovation contingent upon internal context such as organizational search behavior. The central premise of upper echelons theory is that the organization is a reflection of the top management team. The top management team has the authority to formulate, execute and evaluate a firms innovation strategies. The knowledge base of the top management team is a key variable in predicting the firms innovation strategy tendencies. This study focuses on this knowledge diversity. The decision-making tendencies of a top management team with a diverse knowledge base and one with a homogeneous knowledge base are bound to differ. The majority of pre-existing study concludes that the greater the knowledge diversity, the better the innovation performance. However, just as the existing quantitative analysis shows, this tendency does not apply to all firms across the board. This is due to the fact that the top management teams strategy direction is executed by the internal organization of the firm, and the TMT effect can be distorted through the firms organizational behavior and routine. Therefore, this dissertation analyzes how the relationship between the TMTs knowledge diversity and the innovation performance changes because of the organizations internal structure. As a result of conducting quantitative analysis of 120 manufacturing companies in the U.S., a positive correlation was determined between the knowledge diversity founded on the past industrial experience of the top management team and innovation performance. However, the results vary depending on the organizational search scope. The more expansive the organizational search scope, the greater the effect of the TMTs knowledge diversity on innovation performance. Conversely, the narrower the organizational search scope, the more constrained the top management team effect. When TMT with diverse knowledge leads to a broad search organization, therefore, fit as internal complementarity increases, which improves innovation performance. The effect of the TMTs knowledge diversity must also match the managerial discretion of the firm. The managerial discretion indicates the extent of the TMTs direct and proactive intervention into corporate affairs, and there is a high degree of variance depending on the type of industry. The effect of the TMTs knowledge diversity is greater in industries with high managerial discretion like computer or semi-conductor industries. In contrast, the TMT effect is limited in industries with low managerial discretion like forestry or simple manufacturing industries. Therefore, industries with high discretion are more likely to achieve fit as external complementarity with TMT with diverse knowledge, which improve innovation performance. This dissertation also analyzes the relationship of external collaboration strategy and innovation performance. Firms can create innovative values by collaboration with many external partners. Some forms of external collaboration for innovations are mergers and acquisitions, alliances, and joint ventures. For the purpose of this study, the analysis focuses on alliances. In particular, the study analyzes the effect of alliance portfolio diversity on innovation performance. Alliance portfolio diversity refers to how many alliances firms forge with a diverse array of partners. Even if alliances are forged with great companies, alliances, by themselves, do not impact the innovation of the organization. From this perspective, I argue that the internal capability of value creation plays a critical role in leveraging alliance portfolio diversity. The alliance portfolio diversity can be represented as a pool of external resources which the focal firm can access. The extent of benefit that the focal firm gains from the portfolio will depend upon the internal capacity to create the value from the external resource pool. Based on the dynamic capabilities framework that emphasizes competitive advantage is generated from the capabilities to combine and recombine internal and external resources (Teece, 1996Teece, Pisano, &, Shuen, 1997), this study empirically investigates how the fit between an alliance portfolio strategy and internal capabilities affects innovation performance. First, I confirm the direct relationship between innovation performance and alliance portfolio diversity in terms of industry, then examine how internal capabilities of value creation leverage this relationship. In this study, the internal capabilities of value creation are examined in two aspects: routine (organizational search routine) and ability (technological capabilities). The results of this analyses show that the alliance portfolio diversity alone cannot explain the relationship with innovation performance, and this relationship is determined by internal contexts such as organizational search routine or technological capabilities. Apart from the hypotheses tests, this study conducted additional analysis by adding interaction terms with industry volatility as dummy variable, to examine how interplay of alliance portfolio diversity and internal capabilities is applied in certain environment such as high volatile industries. The result of this analysis shows the interaction of alliance portfolio diversity and organizational search routines becomes more significant in industries with high volatility while interaction of alliance portfolio diversity, technological capabilities, and high volatility have no significance. This study analyzed the impact of alliance portfolio diversity on innovation performance in terms of fit as integrated complementarity that considers internal and external components simultaneously.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Backgrounds 1 1.2. Research purpose 2 1.3. Research outline 6 Chapter 2. Literature review 11 2.1. The concept of strategic fit 11 2.1.1. Definition. 11 2.1.2. Strategic fit in various theories. 11 2.2. Critical review on strategic fit 11 2.2.1. Critical review on prior studies 11 2.2.2. Suggesting new framework for technological innovation study. 20 2.2.3. Empirical studies on strategic fit for innovation performance 28 2.3. Top management team and internal-external context 30 2.3.1. TMTs Knowledge base 30 2.3.2. Organizational search behavior 32 2.3.3. TMT Knowledge base and organizational search behavior 33 2.3.4. TMT Knowledge base and managerial discretion . 34 2.4. Alliance portfolio and internal and external contexts 35 2.4.1. Alliance portfolio diversity 35 2.4.2. Alliance portfolio diversity and internal capabilities . 38 2.4.3. Alliance portfolio diversity, internal capabilities, and industry volatility . . 39 Chapter 3. Strategic fit of TMT knowledge base and internal-external contexts 40 3.1. Introduction 40 3.2. Research hypotheses 44 3.2.1. Top Management Team Knowledge Diversity and Organizational Innovation. 44 3.2.2. Top Management Team Knowledge Diversity and Organizational Search Scope . 49 3.2.3. Top Management Team Knowledge Diversity and Managerial Discretion. 53 3.3. Methods 55 3.3.1. Data and sample 55 3.3.2. Dependent variable . 56 3.3.3. Independent variables 57 3.3.4. Control variables 59 3.3.5. Empirical model specification 60 3.4. Results 61 3.5. Sensitivity analysis 65 3.6. Discussion 68 Chapter 4. Strategic fit of alliance portfolio strategy and internal-external contexts 71 4.1. Introduction 71 4.2. Research hypotheses 74 4.2.1. Alliance portfolio diversity and firm innovation 74 4.2.2. Alliance portfolio diversity and internal capabilities of value creation . 76 4.2.3. Organizational search routine as an internal value creation routine 77 4.2.4. Technological capabilities as an internal value creation ability. 80 4.3. Method . 83 4.3.1. Data and sample . 83 4.3.2. Dependent variable 84 4.3.3. Independent variables 84 4.3.4. Control variables 86 4.3.5. Empirical model specification 87 4.4. Results 88 4.5. Sensitive analyses 93 4.6. Discussion 95 Chapter 5. Conclusions 98 5.1. Summary and contributions 98 5.2. Limitations and future research 102 Bibliography 103 국 문 초 록 146Docto