Hsing Hung Chen

Developing new products with knowledge management methods and process development management in a network

When managing the problem of new product development (NPD), a firm needs to cooperate with or compete with its strategic partners in a network to survive in the industry. This paper first discusses the critical success factors (CSF) of NPD in a network, and then simplifies 37 CSFs into 10 items within 3 groups by factor analysis and Delphi method. While analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is capable of dealing with the NPD managerial problems by generalizing subjective judgment of experts, it cannot deal with the inter-relationship among factors or the usually imprecise and vague human judgment. To compensate this deficiency, analytic network process (ANP) incorporated with sensitivity analysis, instead of the popular fuzzy AHP model, is proposed, and a firm can make a decisive evaluation by applying the model. However, developing new products with strategic partners in a network is positively associated with efficiency and effectiveness and negatively with innovation. In order to lead a firm to operate efficiently, effectively and innovatively, the product lifecycle management (PLM) including suitable knowledge management (KM) and process development management is advised for the execution of the selected NPD mix. Balanced scorecard (BSC) using ANP with sensitivity analysis is then suggested to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed procedure and models.

Developing new products in a network with efficiency and innovation

When managing a new product development (NPD) problem, a firm needs to consider the cooperation with its strategic partners in a network because surviving independently in the industry is almost impossible. However, due to the large variances among partners in terms of leadership, management, IT infrastructure and organizational cultures, it may lead to poor communication and cooperation and slow responses. A severe impact on the process and outcome of NPD may result. To facilitate buyer–supplier cooperation, suitable knowledge management and product development process management need to be adopted to match the characteristics of the selected NPD mix. In this paper, a supermatrix analytic network process (ANP) model with sensitivity analysis is first developed to select the most appropriate NPD mix. A balanced scorecard (BSC) using ANP with sensitivity analysis is used next to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model in the execution of NPD process.

Operations management of new project development: innovation, efficient, effective aspects

The integration of distribution management systems (DMS) and feeder management systems (FMS) in China has become a trend in recent years, in addition to upgrading and rebuilding the existing energy management system and DMS. However, some management methods are different and contradictory, thus result in obstacles to innovation and effectiveness. Thus, firms still struggle to find effective process management that is associated with innovative project operations. In addition, there is no standard method to evaluate information technology (IT) projects, and at least 40% of IT projects realize no benefits. It is astonishing that none of the above-mentioned issues have been addressed or solved by previous literatures. In order to fill the vacancy, this paper first briefly introduces FMS and determines its critical success criteria, and then proposes suitable forms of organization for knowledge management. It also applies process management methods according to knowledge creation mode and maturity of the project. Finally, an analytic network process associated with benefits, opportunities, costs, and risks is constructed to compare the performance of different FMS projects with and without adopting the proposed methodology.

New product mix selection for a high technology company in a technology innovation network

Purpose – Owing to keen challenges in an evolving market, new product development (NPD) is critical for an enterprise to prosper. To increase the likelihood of having a few successful products, NPD mix is usually selected in practice. Since, a firm has difficulty surviving independently in a high technology industry, flexible strategies to collaborate or to compete with firms within a technology innovation network (TIN) are essential. Therefore, finding an appropriate mix which can lead to a more satisfactory performance for an enterprise inside a TIN is an important issue, which this paper aims to discuss.Design/methodology/approach – A modified‐analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model is proposed to evaluate the NPD mixes. Since, integrated product development is positively associated with efficiency and negatively with innovation, a suitable NPD operation with a mode of knowledge creation needs to be adopted by evaluating the result of the NPD mix.Findings – The proposed model leads to a more satisfactor...

Strategic management of new products development at technological conglomerate network using expert support systems

While Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a popular Multi Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) method, is able to deal with the strategic New Products Development (NPD) selection by synthesising subjective judgement, the judgement of experts is usually obscure. To deal with the vagueness in responses, an original AHP incorporated with sensitivity analysis instead of popular fuzzy AHP model is proposed and a firm can make a decisive evaluation by applying the new model more easily. In addition, the research finds that technological development keeps the network on leading technologies and diversified/differentiated development satisfies every customers individual needs under industrialised Mass Customisation (MC) manufacturing network.

The fuzzy conceptual model for selecting energy sources

ABSTRACT Because of the maturity of advanced technologies and the urgent requirement of maintaining a healthy environment with reasonable price, generating electricity from alternative resources in China will become the main trend in the near future. However, how to prioritize a suitable strategic planning of energy sources among stakeholders has not been comprehensively discussed in previous literatures and is becoming more important and complex. Accordingly, the paper employs a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process model, which incorporates the benefits, opportunities, costs and risks (BOCR) concept, to help in prioritizing energy sources.

Strategies, decisions and operations for keeping exploitative and exploratory activities balanced

Sustainable competitive advantage of a firm may lie in the firm’s ability to exploit its current competencies while simultaneously exploring new capabilities. However, this is hard to be achieved at the same time. Therefore, a conceptual decision-making framework is proposed to fulfil this task. First, to balance exploitation and exploration under punctuated equilibrium, a fuzzy analytic network process with goal programming is developed to help decision makers select the best projects under specific environments. Second, an executive committee, where experts use computer groupware with the Delphi technique to balance exploratory and exploitative activities flexibly, is formed to allocate limited resources during the implementation of the projects. After a practical investigation, the research concludes that the strategy targeted for balancing exploitation and exploration should be periodically adjusted, and the limited resources should be allocated during the execution of projects. Specifically, the proposed model for sustainable competitive advantage is recommended to practitioners in developing and implementing projects.