Elsevier

Research Policy

Volume 34, Issue 9, November 2005, Pages 1305-1321
Research Policy

The impact of virtual simulation tools on problem-solving and new product development organization

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2005.03.016Get rights and content

Abstract

New product development nowadays makes heavy use of IT instruments such as virtual simulation tools. The main motivation for introducing virtual simulation tools in new product development is to speed up development and lower its cost. Virtual simulation tools, however, do much more. They introduce profound changes in the organization, including the nature of problem-solving, bearing the potential to increase new product development performance beyond cost and lead time reduction. Understanding these profound changes, we argue, holds the key to unlocking the potential of virtual simulation tools for improving new product development performance, including more innovative products. We support our argument with a case study from the European auto industry.

Section snippets

Virtual simulation tools can do much more than just speed up product development and lower its cost

Virtual simulation tools now play a very important role in new product development. They have been widely hailed to significantly cut development time and costs (Thomke, 1998a, Thomke, 2001a). Accordingly, virtual simulation tools are often introduced in new product development to reap precisely those benefits. In the academic literature, virtual experimentation is also often regarded as a way to overcome the cost and time limitations of physical experimentation methods. Limiting virtual

Introducing virtual simulation tools triggers profound changes in the organization, including the nature of problem-solving

There is ample evidence in the literature that introducing new technology into an organization triggers changes in the way tasks are accomplished, and thus in organizational processes (Barley, 1986, Barley and Kunda, 2001, Orlikowski, 1996, Orlikowski, 2002).2 Technologies alter institutionalized

The case study

Within the literature that frames virtual development as a tool for improving NPD performances, Baba and Nobeoka (1998) was among the first papers to present a virtual simulation tool (3D-CAD) as an enabler of a peculiar form of problem-solving. However, the field research was carried out some years ago (1995) and the technology has improved so much by now that updating their analysis of the effects of virtual prototyping on the nature of problem-solving is needed. D’Adderio's (2001) paper on

Discussion

The basic premise that we started out from is that introducing virtual simulation tools in new product development is not trivial but triggers profound changes in the organization. Our case study has confirmed that and has shed light on some of the effects that introducing virtual simulation tools has on firms. To start with, our data confirms the impact of virtual tools on cost and speed of product development projects, in line with the literature. However, our case study has also evidenced

Conclusion

Throughout this article, we have maintained that virtual simulation tools trigger profound changes in the organization, including the nature of problem-solving. In the previous section, we have identified that virtual simulation tools have an important impact on the redefinition of the set of options to be taken into consideration in problem-solving. In particular through this causal mechanism, we have argued that virtual simulation tools provide the possibility of more innovative designs,

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