TY - BOOK

T1 - Reducing project related uncertainty in the "fuzzy front end" of innovation - A comparison of German and Japanese product innovation projects

AU - Tschirky, Hugo

A2 - Herstatt, Cornelius

A2 - Stockstrom, Christoph

A2 - Nagahira, Akio

PY - 2006/1

Y1 - 2006/1

N2 - In this paper, we are going to report on the results of an exploratory pieceof research about the typical front-end-related activities in 28 innovation projectscarried out by 14 German and 13 Japanese companies to reduce project uncertainty. Inall cases we observed a range of activities to reduce project specific risks and revealeddifferences in the practice of innovation management in both the German andJapanese companies. We interviewed managers of 13 Japanese and 14 Germanenterprises concerning 14 Japanese and 14 German New Product Developmentprojects. The focus of our research was the so called “fuzzy front end”, activities andtypical deliverables in the innovation process which might be affected by front endmanagement practice.Overall, in the case of the German as well as the Japanese projects, the uncertaintiesaffected by the market or technology could successfully be reduced during the “fuzzyfront end” and the majority of projects achieved their objectives and efficiencytargets. Nevertheless, our study revealed differences in the way such uncertaintieswere reduced by the companies in Japan and Germany. Generally speaking, the 14Japanese projects relied on a thorough planning, delegation of front end activities andstrict controlling mechanisms to minimize deviations from front end specificationslater in the innovation process and hence, achieved efficiency. In contrast, in themajority of the 14 German projects we could neither observe such a formal planningnor such an intensive controlling procedure supported by methods and tools as in thecase of the Japanese projects. Instead, the companies in our German sample integratedrelevant functions like R&D, marketing, sales, production or customer service fromthe beginning of the innovation process, usually already during the idea generationphase, to ensure that all critical information and perspectives were taken intoconsideration right from the beginning, to reduce uncertainties and later deviations aswell as enhancing efficiency. Responsibilities were assigned during the fuzzy frontend and rarely changed during the implementation of the project.

AB - In this paper, we are going to report on the results of an exploratory pieceof research about the typical front-end-related activities in 28 innovation projectscarried out by 14 German and 13 Japanese companies to reduce project uncertainty. Inall cases we observed a range of activities to reduce project specific risks and revealeddifferences in the practice of innovation management in both the German andJapanese companies. We interviewed managers of 13 Japanese and 14 Germanenterprises concerning 14 Japanese and 14 German New Product Developmentprojects. The focus of our research was the so called “fuzzy front end”, activities andtypical deliverables in the innovation process which might be affected by front endmanagement practice.Overall, in the case of the German as well as the Japanese projects, the uncertaintiesaffected by the market or technology could successfully be reduced during the “fuzzyfront end” and the majority of projects achieved their objectives and efficiencytargets. Nevertheless, our study revealed differences in the way such uncertaintieswere reduced by the companies in Japan and Germany. Generally speaking, the 14Japanese projects relied on a thorough planning, delegation of front end activities andstrict controlling mechanisms to minimize deviations from front end specificationslater in the innovation process and hence, achieved efficiency. In contrast, in themajority of the 14 German projects we could neither observe such a formal planningnor such an intensive controlling procedure supported by methods and tools as in thecase of the Japanese projects. Instead, the companies in our German sample integratedrelevant functions like R&D, marketing, sales, production or customer service fromthe beginning of the innovation process, usually already during the idea generationphase, to ensure that all critical information and perspectives were taken intoconsideration right from the beginning, to reduce uncertainties and later deviations aswell as enhancing efficiency. Responsibilities were assigned during the fuzzy frontend and rarely changed during the implementation of the project.

KW - Management studies

KW - furry frondt end

KW - innovation risk

KW - unvertainty

KW - idea generation

KW - project selection

KW - project planing

KW - japan

KW - germany

U2 - 10.1007/3-540-31248-X_16

DO - 10.1007/3-540-31248-X_16

M3 - Collected editions and anthologies

SN - 3-540-25326-2

SN - 78-3-540-25326-6

T3 - Technology and Innovation Management

BT - Reducing project related uncertainty in the "fuzzy front end" of innovation - A comparison of German and Japanese product innovation projects

PB - Springer-Verlag

CY - berlin

ER -