In-House Globalization: The Role of Globally Distributed Design and Product Architecture on Product Development Performance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gokpinar, Bilal; Hopp, Wallace J.; Iravani, Seyed M. R.
• 署名单位: University of London; University College London; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; Northwestern University
• 刊物名称: PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1059-1478
• DOI: 10.1111/poms.12079
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 1509-1523
• 关键词: engineering change orders; UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT; KNOWLEDGE; work; management; software; COMMUNICATION; technologies; INFORMATION; complexity

摘要

Changes in the global economy and technological advances are stimulating increased geographic distribution of new product design and development efforts. For large organizations that design and develop complex products, this geographic distribution has added a new layer of complexity to product development operations. In this empirical study of a large auto manufacturer, we examine the operational performance implications of splitting the design of vehicle subsystems across multiple geographic locations. Our results indicate that global distribution diminishes the chance of completing tasks on time and degrades subsystem design quality. Finally, by examining the interplay between subsystem centrality and global distribution, we found that higher centrality in the product architecture amplifies the impact of global distribution on subsystem error rates.