New product development in the context of industry 4.0: insights from the automotive components industry

The advent of Industry 4.0 is imposing several changes and challenges to companies and industries. Connectivity, software dependence, and deep interdependency between companies in global optimized supply chains are some aspects that will be prevalent in any industry. In this context, new product development (NPD) has been changing to fit this new context. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted in seven companies in the automotive components industry to understand how NPD processes have been changing. The impact of software is particularly noteworthy. Indeed, the automotive components industry has been greatly boosted by the incorporation of software (mainly in terms of electric/electronic components). The development of software, in some cases, can represent between 60 and 80% of product development costs. Such incorporation of software makes the development of software and of automotive components to have more and more similarities. In this context, there is a clear tendency to reduce the development time, increase complexity, and make several iterations (sprints) to verify if the product is in accordance with what the customer or the market demands.- (undefined

A change navigation-based, scenario planning process within a developing world context from an Afro-centric leadership perspective

Orientation: In the hyper turbulent context faced currently by organisations, more flexible strategic planning approaches, such as scenario planning which take into account a more comprehensive range of possible futures for an organisation, will position organisations better than conventional forecast and estimates that depend only on a single, linearly extrapolated, strategic response. Research purpose: This study aimed to investigate how scenario-based planning (a strictly cognitive management tool) can be combined with organisational change navigation (a practice addressing the emotionality of change) and how this integrated process should be aligned with the prerequisites imposed by a developing country context and an Afro-centric leadership perspective in order to make the process more context relevant and aligned. Motivation for the study: The integration of organisational change navigation with conventional scenario based planning, as well as the incorporation of the perquisites of a developing countries and an Afro-centric leadership perspective, will give organisations a more robust, holistic strategic management tool that will add significantly more value within a rapidly, radically and unpredictably changing world. Research design, approach and method: The adopted research approach comprised a combination of the sourcing of the latest thinking in the literature (the ‘theory’) as well as the views of seasoned practitioners of scenario planning (the ‘practice’) through an iterative research process, moving between theory and practice, back to practice and finally returning to theory in order to arrive at a validated expanded and enhanced scenario-based planning process which is both theory and practice ‘proof’. Main findings: A management tool incorporating the change navigation and the unique features of developing countries and Afro-centric leadership was formulated and empirically validated. This management tool is referred to as a change navigation based, scenario planning process (CNBSPP). Practical/managerial implications: CNBSPP is available for use by organisations wishing to apply a strategic planning tool that fits within a developing country context and an Afro-centric leadership approach. Contribution/value add: The research makes a unique contribution to the current level of knowledge by integrating two disciplines usually practised independently of one another, namely scenario-based planning and organisational change navigation. It also embedded the process into a different context of application, that is, the developed world as viewed from an Afro-centric leadership perspective