An exploratory case study

Abstract

There is nothing better than a consumer being excited as they see new products in the retail stores. Yet, when new products did not arrive on a regular basis, the excitement subsided and consumers went elsewhere. In order to meet the growing demands, apparel companies increased the frequency at which products were developed. Hence, creating a continual cycle in the development of products occurred at the companies. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore knowledge creation and conversion within an apparel company as it developed a product line for market. Knowledge is best explored within a contextual setting. With that in mind, this study was set into the product development department at a small apparel manufacturer. Six out of the seven members in the department chose to participate in the studys interviews and observations. The analysis of the findings led to the emergence of three themes being (1) artifacts of the new product development (NPD), (2) knowledge intensive activities, and (3) passive knowledge sharing. These themes loop back into the studys question of how is knowledge created and converted during product development. In new product development (NPD), explicit knowledge exists in such artifacts as technical packets (tech packs, product samples and fabric binders. As a product is developed it progresses through various knowledge intensive activities that created, converted and shared knowledge. For products to advance toward production knowledge sharing needs to occur among those involved in the development process. The conclusion for this study was that knowledge creation, conversion, and sharing are intertwined as an apparel product was developed for market.