The Practice of Global Product Development

Eppinger, S. D. & Chitkara, A. R. (2009). The practice of global product development. Retrieved February 20, 2010 from: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/files/saleable-pdfs/50437.pdf.

This article is an update of an original that was published in 2006 in MIT’s Sloan Management Review; its purpose is to address strategic and tactical issues involved in global product development (GPD), which generally means that product development is done at co-locations in different regions of the world. This is a very fast-growing concept in the business world and the authors address the reasons why it is so prevalent, and some of the drawbacks. The four reasons stated for the expansion of GPD are: lower cost due to less expensive labor cost in other regions of the world, improved process, global growth by giving the firms access to the markets they are co-producing in, and access to technology that is available in these global markets. The article also discusses in detail ten factors that are considered to be key to the development of a successful GPD strategy: management priorities, process modularity, product modularity, core competence, intellectual property, data quality, infrastructure, governance and project management, collaborative culture, and organizational change management. This is a good article for manager to read and understand because the marketplace is becoming more global every year and to be competitive; many industries will continue to move in this direction.