Cost targets and time pressure during new product development
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
ISSN: 0144-3577
Article publication date: 1 December 2002
Abstract
Investigates the impact of using cost targets during new product development (NPD), in terms of design quality, product cost and development time. An NPD environment with cost targets is compared with an NPD environment where design engineers receive no specific cost targets, but are expected to “minimize” the cost level of future products. The impact of cost targets versus no‐cost targets is investigated in combination with high/low time pressure. The 2 * 2 factorial design was tested in a laboratory experiment that simulated a real design process, with customers asking for the highest design quality. The results demonstrate that cost targets during NPD lead to lower‐cost new products, while not impairing design quality or development time. However, under high time pressure, cost targets lead design engineers to work longer on the design, without a corresponding cost decrease.
Keywords
Citation
Everaert, P. and Bruggeman, W. (2002), "Cost targets and time pressure during new product development", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 22 No. 12, pp. 1339-1353. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443570210452039
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited