The impact of methods: how is Swedish product development really managed?

Purpose and goal

The mapping of methods, tools and practices shows several aspects of its distribution within manufacturing firms (RQ 1). The differences between companies with different conditions were difficult to interpret (RQ 4). The case study and survey (RQ 2) contributes to knowledge on how tools and methods are implemented. The study on effect evaluation (RQ 3) shows that individual tools, methods and practices are seldom evaluated, but of interest among the respondents. The study´s four research questions have been investigated and answered (RQ4 difficult to interpret) and aims achieved.

Results and expected effects

The project has resulted in a large body of data, which have been analyzed. The material will be analyzed further, with the expected effect of further publications at conferences and in journals. The data collection instrument is a further result. It will be developed with the purpose of collecting larger amounts of surveys. Finally, the project has resulted in a network of 18 manufacturing companies with great interest in these questions. This can facilitate rich collaborations on the suggested research approaches, thereby securing relevance for industry.

Approach and implementation

The set-up and implementation of the study complimented the projects short timeframe. The instrument for data collection has proved to function well with one-hour phone interviews. The resulting amount of data was larger than first expected, which affected the analysis. The schedule was slightly delayed by a high work-load among the respondents and difficulties of finding timeslots. The planned workshop has been rescheduled from June 2012 to November 2013 due to low expected participation in June. Beyond that, two papers were presented at NFF 2013 in Iceland.