The product-process-organisation relationship in complex development projects

This paper provides a framework linking products to innovation processes in order to show how knowledge, technology and organisation are all interrelated. These interactions create specific innovation management problems for companies developing complex, systemic capital goods. Firms can reduce development schedules and costs by efficiently allocating resources to reduce uncertainty about the implications of different design options. The paper proposes that technologies are constructed by following a set of interrelated problem solving tasks that constrain the range of possible innovation processes. The dynamic interactions between these interrelated tasks and the organisation of specialised labour influences the success of problem solving las does problem-solving technology) and consequently the number and extent of redesign feedback loops in the innovation process. These redesign feedback loops have implications for the schedule, cost and quality of the project. The more general framework is illustrated by a case study of product development in the aeroengine sector. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.