Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the critical success factors (CSFs), as well as respective best practices (BPs) associated with those factors, using a case survey of the employees of Ford Motor Company working in different development centers around the world. The company’s project managers were asked to respond to two structured questionnaires. The results confirm the study’s assumption that the order of importance of the CSFs of the automotive industry differ from those of other industries in general. The results also reflect the importance of the front end (FE) phase in the new product development process. Regional differences were also observed. Neglecting CSFs can lead to delayed decision-making, resulting in higher development costs or cancellations of projects.
Highlights
New product development is full of uncertainty, and it often involves new technologies and processes
There is a consensus among researchers that some critical success factors (CSFs) significantly impact the success of a project under development for most industrial sectors (Pinto & Slevin, 1988, Müller & Jugdev, 2012)
Based on the above studies, this study proposes a simple conceptual model (Figure 1) that establishes the interrelationships between CSFs in projects with the three key performance dimensions within the context of project management
Summary
New product development is full of uncertainty, and it often involves new technologies and processes. It is not in the interest of any company to launch defective products or cancel them before they are even launched (Repenning, Gonçalves & Black, 2001). The automotive industry, like other industrial sectors, is negatively affected by the cancellation of projects that are still in the product development (PD) phase. The cancellation of a project during the PD phase leads to lost resources, competitive disadvantages due to not launching a new or modified product in the market, and general financial losses. The causes are diverse and highly complex, and addressing them requires extensive efforts from the project manager. Each industrial sector has its own characteristics, which motivates studies on determining these causes in specific industries and finding evidence of their importance
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