The Impact of Activities during Fuzzy Front End on NPD Project Success: A Comparative Study between Korean and Japanese Manufacturers

Proceedings of International Conference on Advanced Design Research and Education (ICADRE14)

Year: 2014
Editor: Edwin Koh, Victor Shim, Tan Woei Wan, Ian Gibson, Andi S. Putra
Author: Mammetseyidov , Ruslan; Nagahira , Akio
Institution: Tohoku University, Japan
Section: Design Methods
Page(s): 077-083
DOI number: 10.3850/978-981-09-1348-9_031
ISBN: 978-981-09-1348-9

Abstract

This study shows that the impact of fuzzy front end (FFE) phase during innovation process on new product development (NPD) project success in two East Asian countries, Korea and Japan, was explored via employing comparative study. The comparison periods which refer to the late 1980s for Japanese manufacturing firms and the late 2000s for Korean manufacturing firms are considered to be very successful era for both countries. The results suggest Japanese firms tended to keep initial plans during development process, while the Korean firms were more flexible in project execution phase allowing dramatic changes to the initial plans.

Keywords: Design Methods