Product Development Performance in the Auto Industry: 1990s Update

Abstract

Over the past decade, firms in auto industry have focused much of their attention on new auto product development performance. This paper reports on a follow-up study to Clark and Fujimoto's research on product development performance in the 1980s. We find that U.S. and European firms have made significant strides in meeting Japanese levels of product development performance. Driving this improvement have been changes in the use of suppliers, in overlapping phases of the development process, and in the type of project management system used. We also find that Korean auto makers are relatively efficient in terms of lead time and engineering productivity, although final design quality is lower. The narrowing of the competitive gap in the management of individual projects may point to product line performance as a future driver of competitive advantage.