Organizational changes in product development in various process industries

Summary form only given. This paper discusses organizational changes in development projects in various process industries due to new product development. In general, process industries have had stable markets and have just been concerned with process development with a focus on economy-of-scale, i.e. to manufacture products at as low a price as possible. But, today, these industries are also affected by the rapid changes in both their markets and in their technology. Product development teams must have an increased awareness of the products´ place in the value chain. It will also have implications on how product development members must act towards customers and suppliers. Another implication is what kind of competence product development teams need so that they can cope with the change of relationship towards suppliers and customers. The research is based on telephone and personal interviews. The purpose is to give implications of what kind of trend there is today in various industries and what impact this trend has on the organization of product development projects and the strategic competence supply to deal with this change. The focus in this paper is on the current trend in a range of different industries, the similarities and differences, in Swedish companies that have development projects