Product Development Performance: Strategy, Organization, and Management in the World Auto Industry (Hardcover)

by Kim B. Clark (Author), Takahiro Fujimoto (Author) "New products have long been a source of fascination and excitement..." (more)
Key Phrases: die lead time, project scope index, engineering lead time, United States, General Motors, Europe Japan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This hardcover edition is available only in a premium, full-cloth binding. It will not ship with a dust jacket.

The result of six years of research conducted at the Harvard Business School on how different manufacturing firms around the world approach the development of new products. Its principal focus is on the impact of strategy, organization, and management on this critical component of business strategy. Concentrates on case studies from the world auto industry. Drawing on extensive research on twenty companies in Europe, North America, and Japan, the authors identify the strategies, practices, and capabilities that create superior performance in lead time, engineering productivity, and total product quality. The authors make the general applications of their findings clear to other industries. Managers will see how engineering needs to become more customer oriented, how integrated problem-solving activities pay off, how lead times can be cut without damaging side effects, and how strong project leaders championing products can promote innovative results.

About the Author
Since 1984, Harvard Business School Press has been dedicated to publishing the most contemporary management thinking, written by authors and practitioners who are leading the way. Whether readers are seeking big-picture strategic thinking or tactical problem solving, advice in managing global corporations or for developing personal careers, HBS Press helps fuel the fire of innovative thought. HBS Press has earned a reputation as the springboard of thought for both established and emerging business leaders.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Press (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875842453
• ISBN-13: 978-0875842455
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #611,358 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Successfully measured competitiveness in the Auto Industry, July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This book is very famous in the auto industry. It describes and compares world auto makers' overall competitiveness with regard to product development. It explains to us why the Japanese auto makers dominated world auto market in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The Japanese introduced their products far faster than competitors,the Europeans and Americans, to the global market, not to speak of their superior product quality. What happened to them? Were there any market condition involved? The answer is no. The Japanese product managers were champions not coordinators or linkage men. They influenced more power over functional product development teams, such as styling, design, testing. The Japanese also showed real TQM(Total Quality Management) not a lip-service. I think this book helped other automakers to scrutinze their process and to prepare for the next challenge. The Americans and European automakers do not lag behind now in the survival races. They get back to their position as world leader as they did in the early 1900s. If you want to know more about the logic and reasoning, this book has more.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars solid business book, April 26, 2001

By	Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

All too often, academic studies in business (and many areas for that matter) are exercises in sausage production: they repackage a few new facts in some worn out methodology and claim it is new. But at their best, they can provide a new framework and vocabulary to adress complex new issues. PDP was just such a book on the auto industry, which was in serious crisis in the 1980s.

This is one of the first and best books on concurrent engineering (cross functional development) and it sets a very high standard. It is well written and persuasive. While some diagrams are overly ambitious - one has 59 arrows and 14 explanatory captions - it rarely gets bogged down in jargon or long proofs. Upon re-reading it, it does not at all appear out-dated; indeed, their prescriptions appears to have been learned and integrated into many American industries, from autos to computer networks.