Amplifying the Innovations Value Chain

Innovations to support the product development (PD) of multinational companies (MNCs) have posed new challenges to the small manufacturing firms (SMFs). As SMFs seek outcomes to the concepts and specifications posed by their MNC customers, four essential phases are discerned to dictate the scope of their innovation activities. These phases can be categorized as commitment, configuration, development and delivery. This paper strives to amplify these phases so that value generating opportunities can be identified and implemented through appropriate engineering-managerial actions. Importantly, close customer relationships, willingness to continuously experiment, investment in knowledge and skills to build capabilities are the main strategic considerations