Lean product development: nothing new under the sun?

Salgado, E. G. and Dekkers, R. (2018) Lean product development: nothing new under the sun? International Journal of Management Reviews, 20(4), pp. 903-933. (doi: 10.1111/ijmr.12169)

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Abstract

The concept of lean product development has attracted the attention of many scholars since its inception in the 1990s derived from practices at Toyota Motor Company. Key to this approach to new product development (NPD) are a few methods derived from lean production as well as longer established practices such as concurrent engineering. This makes one wonder whether lean product development is a new practice, a new method or an encapsulation of already existing methods at the time; this quest for the roots and tenets of lean product development, also in comparison with other methods for NPD, is the focus of this paper. This journey takes this propositional paper not only to the roots of lean product development and the context of its era of conception, but also to what this concept adds to other extant methods for NPD. In particular, this comparison draws out that other methods are trying to achieve the same objectives: the creation of products and services with value to the customer, the reduction of time-to-market and the efficient use of resources. This inference implies that managers of new product (and service) development can choose from a wider pallet of methods and approaches to enhance the performance of R&D and to connect better to manufacturing (including supply chains). Inevitably, this has implications for research on (lean) product and service development; hence, this paper sets out a research agenda based on the deliberations and gaps that have been uncovered in the discourse.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This work was supported by the FAPEMIG Foundation (APQ-00976-13) and the CNPq (Process 249160/2013-7).
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Dekkers, Dr Rob
Authors: Salgado, E. G., and Dekkers, R.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
Journal Name:International Journal of Management Reviews
Publisher:Wiley
ISSN:1460-8545
ISSN (Online):1468-2370
Published Online:06 December 2017
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2017 British Academy of Management and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
First Published:First published in International Journal of Management Reviews 20(4):903-933
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher

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