Managing Outsourced Product Design: The Effectiveness of Alternative Integration Mechanisms (original) (raw)

Project Control, Coordination, and Performance in Complex Information Systems Outsourcing

Journal of Computer Information Systems, 2019

Information systems outsourcing has not only become prevalent but also involves an increasingly wide range of activities beyond the traditional programming, testing, documentation, and localization activities to include complex business-focused project planning, process design, requirements determination, and logical and physical systems designs. Such complex IS outsourcing often requires interactions among various stakeholders across different locations and cultures and therefore is much more difficult to manage than the traditional IS outsourcing. Coordination and control have been viewed as especially important project management strategies for managing project activities; however, little research has focused on how they relate to each other and how they collectively affect the performance of complex IS outsourcing projects. In this study, we examine the differential performance effects of outcome and behavior controls on coordination and show that the effect of outcome control on project performance is mediated by coordination.

Managing Interfaces in Large-Scale Projects: The Roles of Formal Governance and Partnering

Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 2021

Interface management has been viewed as one of the important organizational capabilities to promote coordination and integration among stakeholders in construction project delivery, especially for large-scale projects. This paper examines the role of formal governance, partnering, and the nature of the boundary activities and their interactions in the interface management performance outcomes. To achieve this goal, an integrated framework with consideration of the influence of formal governance, partnering, and boundary activities on interface management performance and associated project outcomes was developed and the framework predictions were empirically tested by using the data collected from 85 international large-scale projects. The results show that formal governance is the one of dominant determinants of interface management performance, which can influence the management outcomes improving partnering and boundary activities. Partnering and boundary activities are also significant antecedents of interface management performance, which in turn improves project outcomes of large-scale construction projects. Formal governance and partnering mutually reinforce each other. Interface management performance is positively corelated to project outcomes in terms of quality, cost, and schedule. The present empirical research contributes to the fundamental understanding of the critical factors that govern the interface management 19

Integration mechanisms and R&D project performance

Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 2000

Information processing theory suggests the need for different types of integration mechanisms in R & D project management depending on levels of uncertainty and equivocality. This paper examines the use of these mechanisms and their links to project performance in a sample of 121 R & D projects in a large research laboratory. Overall, it is found that formal leadership, planning and process specification, and to a lesser extent information technology use are related to project performance while the positive effects of horizontal structures are apparently balanced out by their costs. The integration mechanisms studied act on performance partly through their effect on horizontal communications. Modest support was found for the contingency hypotheses derived from information processing theory. It appears that managers adjusted their use of horizontal structures, planning and process specification, and informal leadership to project uncertainty but not to project equivocality. The positive effects of horizontal communications on performance were found to be greatest under high project equivocality as would be predicted by information processing arguments. Moreover, with the exception of formal leadership, the use of integration mechanisms did not enhance performance in contexts of low uncertainty and low equivocality.

Managing Product Development Projects Across Firm Boundaries Experiences from the Construction Industry

2001

In this paper, we discuss co-operative product development across firm boundaries. Firstly, we discuss reasons why innovation may beneficially be co-ordinated among firms, and we provide some empirical evidence for the existence and significance of the phenomenon. Secondly, we discuss the relevance of co-operative innovation for the construction industry which, at present, is characterised by low degrees of innovation and co-operation. We then present the results from a co-operative product development project within the construction industry. Lastly, we discuss managerial implications which may be drawn from the study in relation to co-operative product development in the construction industry.

Integrated systems for product design: The move toward outsourcing

The extended enterprise create partnerships with its external environment in order to acquire strategic information and achieve competitive advantage. For that, it integrates its information systems with the partners for fast communication and new knowledge integration in the product development process. The integrated systems involved in the inter-organizational collaboration have specific functions and features. In this paper, we present the case study related to an aerospace firm integrating its information systems with one of its partners for complex product design. We investigate on the types of systems integrated, on their success factors and their impact on the product design. The results of the study provide important insights on the integration of the information systems for product development outsourcing.

MANAGING PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS ACROSS FIRM BOUNDARIES-EXPERIENCES FROM THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY by

In this paper, we discuss co-operative product development across firm boundaries. Firstly, we discuss reasons why innovation may beneficially be co-ordinated among firms, and we provide some empirical evidence for the existence and significance of the phenomenon. Secondly, we discuss the relevance of co-operative innovation for the construction industry which, at present, is characterised by low degrees of innovation and co-operation. We then present the results from a co-operative product development project within the construction industry. Lastly, we discuss managerial implications which may be drawn from the study in relation to co-operative product development in the construction industry.

MANAGING PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS ACROSS FIRM BOUNDARIES

In this paper, we discuss co-operative product development across firm boundaries. Firstly, we discuss reasons why innovation may beneficially be co-ordinated among firms, and we provide some empirical evidence for the existence and significance of the phenomenon. Secondly, we discuss the relevance of co-operative innovation for the construction industry which, at present, is characterised by low degrees of innovation and co-operation. We then present the results from a co-operative product development project within the construction industry. Lastly, we discuss managerial implications which may be drawn from the study in relation to co-operative product development in the construction industry.