Projectification of the Firm : the Renault Case

Many industrial firms are implementing fundamental changes in their organizations to increase the efficiency of their product development processes. Here we focus on the relations between project management models and the permanent organization and processes of the firm. The case of the French firm Renault is being studied. This firm implemented a transition, from a classical funtional organization in the 1960's to project coordination in the 1970's and autonomous and powerful project teams since 1989. Such advanced project management has deep and destabilising effects on the other permanent logics of the firm (task definitions, hierarchic regulations, carrier management, functions and suppliers relationship). Therefore a phase of "projectification" is now under way to adapt these permanent processes to the new context.project management, organization, organizational learning, automobile industry.

Creating Products in the Absence of Markets: A Robust Design Approach

The purpose of this study is to examine how firms deal with a situation of true uncertainty about their potential markets and technologies. Specifically, we ask how firms can create products when the corresponding market does not exist. Design/methodology/approach : This paper is based on a longitudinal study of a high-tech firm, combined with analysis of existing theory in Product Design and Entrepreneurship. Findings – Markets and products are usually a defining choice made early on by firms in their strategic process. Such a choice guides their development by providing a ‘stable concept' to which decisions can be related to. When markets do not exist yet, however, this approach is not effective: Early choice of products and markets limits firms' flexibility by constraining their ability and willingness to adapt, while fundamental new technical and market information is likely to emerge during the project that will prove the initial assumptions wrong."New Product Development";"uncertainty";"high-technology venture"

Front-Loading Problem-Solving in Co-Development : Managing the Contractual, Organizational and Cognitive Dimensions

Front-loading ” problem-solving is one of the major strategies to reduce development costs and development lead time. In co-development situations, the implementation of such methodologies rises specific questions, due to the difficult partition in responsabilities and skills between the car manufacturer and the supplier, especially when customer and supplier contributions cannot be clearly interfaced in a “ black-box sourcing ” relation. This results in a difficult and permanent debate about design modifications. The article analyses such a co-development situation in the case of a car manufacturer and its die design and engineering suppliers. The case illustrate how to combine organizational integration (i.e. co-localization, shared development methodologies) with new economic contracting rules which create front-loading problem-solving incentives for the two partners. We compare the economic outcomes of a traditional process with a co-developped project, from the viewpoint of both the customer and the suppliers. The study demonstrates how co-development played a major role in reducing the number and cost of modifications for the customer. The benefits which suppliers can earn depend on their ability to involve in the project in terms of design and engineering capacity at an early stage. These results generate theoretical outputs which bridge the gap between incentive and contract theories on one side, and cognitive and learning fields on the other."concurrent engineering";" co-development";"contracts";" learning";"die design"

Front-Loading Problem Solving in co-Development : Managing the Contractual Organizational and Cognitive Dimensions

“ Front-loading ” problem-solving (Thomke et Fujimoto, 2000) is one of the major strategies to reduce development costs and development lead time (Midler, 1995, p 369). In co-development situations, the implementation of such methodologies rises specific questions, due to the difficult partitions in responsabilities and skills between the car manufacturer and the supplier. The problem is particularly important when customer and supplier contributions cannot be clearly interfaced in a “ black-box sourcing ” relation. The result is a difficult and permanent debate about design modifications.

Innovation-Based Competition and the Dynamics of Design in Upstream Suppliers

Although the evolution of the design process in car manufacturers and their first-tier suppliers has been studied extensively, the situation is different for upstream industries, usually chemical and steel firms. This article focuses on such upstream suppliers situation based on an interactive research with a major european steel-maker group, Usinor. In its first part, it demonstrate that innovation-based competition is a significant issue for companies situated upstream from end-product manufacturers. The accelerating pace of the (re)design of end products downstream is increasing opportunities for the substitution of raw materials. The importance of this issue is obscured, however, by considerable inertia in the spread of innovations through the sector. Then the article characterises the specificities of implementing an innovative design strategy due to the activity and position of the firm in the industrial chain. The conclusions will make it clear that design models developed for car-manufacturers and first tear suppliers are in many ways unsuitable for this different context. We finally propose 5 principles to evaluate and define a innovation management system in upstream suppliers." innovation";" management";" design organisation";"steel industry"

The launch of innovative services : lessons from automotive telematics

In the literature on NPD, most existing studies on the end of the design process concentrate on managing ramp-up of manufactured products. However our economies increasingly depend upon services. This article examine the management of the final phases of the design process of an innovative service. Our research make three contributions : 1) we show that the concept of ramp-up is insufficient for understanding the phenomena at works. The nature of services means that two types of learning – technical and sales – take place at the same time. 2) an analysis of the data collected confirms this difference by bringing to light great contrasts in these two dimensions. 3) This led us to identify a new field for NPD research : the design of the sales process.Management de projet;Services;Télématique automobile;Industrie automobile;Lancement de produit;Montée en cadence;Vente;Théorie de la conception;Gestion de l'innovation

Innovation in Automative Telematics Services: Characteristics of the Field and Management Priciples

The growing role of innovation in the strategy of car manufacturers leads them to relentlessly look for new sources of differentiation. In this way Telematics, a suite of technologies centered on communications systems within cars, is expected to bolster the car industry by offering a new stream of revenues. This articles focuses on the impact of this technology on design organization. In the first part, we demonstrate that Telematics is a radical innovation for automotive industry. Therefore traditional design models, such as heavyweight project management, are unsuitable. Next, the paper studies the organization adopted by a european car manufacturer in the light of recent research on the management of innovation.Management de projet;Services;Télématique automobile;Développement de nouveaux produits;Gestion de l'innovation

The role of 1st tier suppliers in automobile product modularisation: the search for a coherent strategy

Modularization is a growing concept in auto industry. Architectural decisions had been many time studied from the car maker's point of view. This article addresses the question of supplier's strategy in the modular business. A prior publication (Fourcade Midler 2004) showed that supplier's involvement could take various forms, from light coordination to heavy investment in deep module redesign. This article will investigate how these different modular involvement profile could fit in general 1st Tier supplier's strategy. It is based both on a general study of automotive suppliers industrial field and an interactive research that we have been pursuing in conjunction with one 1st Tier supplier since 2001.

FROM TECHNOLOGY COMPETITION TO REINVENTING INDIVIDUAL MOBILITY FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: CHALLENGES FOR NEW DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE

Emissions reduction constraints as well as petrol costs create new opportunities for radical innovations in powertrain solutions for automobiles. In this paper, we focus on the on-going revival of full battery electric vehicles (EV). Our analysis is drawn in two axes. First, we analyse of the on-going context for such EV. As electricity is surely not a new option for automobile industry, we study the past attempts that failed, and show that it is possible to highlight some conditions for a future success and to see why there is nowadays a new window of opportunity for a large scale roll-out of EV. Our reasoning is based both on market evolution as well as technological evolutions. The recent developments around EV suggest that many of the conditions for a successful tidal wave are about to be combined. Second, we characterize the innovation & design strategy that an OEM needs to implement in order to turn this opportunity into a profitable competitive advantage: -Innovation strategy has to expand the scope of design dimensions from electrification of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles to the complete redefinition of a specific electric product solution. Beyond the product scope, we will see that electric mobility services can provide an efficient enabler to overcome the operational and maintenance pitfalls of electric solutions. -Marketing strategy also needs to dramatically revise the classical auto marketing approach, as electric mobility will require new behaviours from end users as well as favourable regulations and infrastructures from local authorities. -Development processes cannot rely only on the traditional automotive ecosystem, because many competencies required for EV have to be created during the development process. On going EV projects will need a deep rethinking of design system to acquire the new competencies In this paper, we will discuss first outputs from a long term (4 years) action-research launched at the end of 2007. This research is done at an OEM committed to launch a full range of EV, and which, as a consequence, already faces all the challenges related to such a radical innovation.

Creating Products in the Absence of Markets: A Robust Design Approach

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine how firms deal with a situation of true uncertainty about their potential markets and technologies. Specifically, we ask how firms can create products when the corresponding market does not exist. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on a longitudinal study of a high-tech firm, combined with analysis of existing theory in Product Design and Entrepreneurship. Findings – Markets and products are usually a defining choice made early on by firms in their strategic process. Such a choice guides their development by providing a ‘stable concept' to which decisions can be related to. When markets do not exist yet, however, this approach is not effective: Early choice of products and markets limits firms' flexibility by constraining their ability and willingness to adapt, while fundamental new technical and market information is likely to emerge during the project that will prove the initial assumptions wrong. We show an alternative approach where products and markets actually result from a generic process of products and markets exploration driven by the firm. We suggest that this approach forms a robust design in that it allows the firm to deal with the uncertainty by simultaneously developing its products and exploring markets, while preserving the flexibility to adapt to the changing environment. Practical implications – The practical implication of this paper is to suggest an alternative approach to deliberate planning in high-tech ventures. With this approach, rather than markets and products, strategy defines a market and technology exploration process. Originality/value – The paper is original in three ways: 1) It links the product design and market exploration processes in high-tech firm development; 2) It is based on an in-depth longitudinal study; and 3) It results from an academic-practitioner collaborative work.New Product Development; uncertainty; high-technology venture.