THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN R&D PRACTICES AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

• Main Authors: Ching-feng Huang, 黃清峰
• Other Authors: Kun-hung Yeh
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/64135269424546978530

碩士 === 大同大學 === 事業經營學系(所) === 92 === Product development is a cross-function activity needing cooperation from all the other departments. Most organizations believe that the characteristics of product development include not only top management support but also R&D practices and the usage of both computer and IT. These constitute the framework of product development practices. In summary, the focus of this research is design. We put emphasis on the inner dimensions of whole product development, including top management support, practices of R&D method, and computer usage. As a result, this can facilitate product development and realize the effects on the whole company competitive advantages (such as innovation, quality, flexibility, cost, and time). The subjects of this research are the 3C manufacturers in top 1,000 in our country. After data collected by questionnaires, we used SPSS 11.5 for Windows and AMOS 3.6 to conduct confirmatory factor analysis. The result shows that there are two significant paths among top management support, R&D practices, computer usage, and company competitive advantages. One is top management support will have positive influence on competitive advantages through R&D practices. The other one is top management support will have positive influence on competitive advantages through computer usage. In addition, there are two significant indicators of top management support: (1) product development managers have enough influence to make things happen; (2) product development managers have a final say in product design decisions. Four significant indicators of R&D practices are as follows: modular design, DFM/DFA, concurrent engineering, and customization. There are four indicators of computer usage—using computer to facilitate process for design change, using computer to develop product model, using computer to coordinate product development activities, and using computer to improve design. The five indicators of competitive advantages are flexibility, quality, time, cost, and innovation.