Joint product development implementation: an empirical study

A popular and growing current trend in high-technology product development is to outsource the development of pieces and parts of a product and then to integrate them into the final product. This can be done on a build to order basis in a manufacturing plant (for example, computer equipment) or through combining various software components into a final release. This trend offers many advantages, yet brings up many new problems that have yet to be acknowledged or effectively addressed from an engineering management perspective. In this research work, issues of concern in joint product developments are identified. The problems and complexities of joint development projects´ management and dilemmas of engineering managers are discussed. The authors offer some suggestions to resolutions to the identified issues based on their empirical investigation.