Managing outsourcing in a joint development environment: impact on innovation and new product development process

Abstract

A popular and growing current trend in high-tech product development is to outsource the development of pieces and parts of a product and then to integrate them into the final product. This can be done on a build to order basis in a manufacturing plant (for example, computer equipment) or through combining various software components into a final release. This trend offers many advantages, yet brings up many new problems that have yet to be acknowledged or effectively addressed from an engineering management perspective. In this research work, issues of concern in the outsourcing process are identified and the problems and complexities involved in joint product developments and its management are discussed. We address first, the joint development process, then present and discuss the identified problems of joint developments and extrapolate them to the dilemmas and issues faced by engineering managers. We provide alternative measures through an industry scenario and investigate the issues of promoting and protecting innovation within this unique environment.