AN EXPLORATORY ON THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN R&D AND PURCHASE FUNCTION IN NPD PROCESS- TAIWAN PC INDUSTRY AS AN EXAMPLE

• Main Authors: Chung-Yu Wu, 吳忠諭
• Other Authors: Pi-Chuan Sun
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/46880015256206010842

碩士 === 大同大學 === 事業經營學系(所) === 99 === Personal computer or so called PC has been walking into our families since 1980’s, and now it has become an indispensable product in our daily life. We can imagine how competitive it is for PC industry and witness its transformation to a traditional electronic industry from a tomorrow or future star when it was first introduced. Technology innovations, shortened product life cycle and declining gross profit are the critical problems for PC industry. How to maintain a least gross margin under such a competitive environment is indeed a great task. The enterprise must think how to shorten new product development time, maintain an effective low cost structure and add new product innovative functions to generate profit. All of these tasks cannot be carried out by a single department but an inter-department join operation. The interactions and cooperation between departments have become the crucial factor to determine the success or the failure of a new product during the development. In the past, many studies focused on the involvement of the procurement and the suppliers in the new product development. In view of the fact that there are few cases discussed the interaction relationship between R&D and procurement, this study approaches from the perspectives of both R&D and procurement and focuses on the interactions, cooperation models and the role played in all stages of the new product development. This study has divided PC industry in Taiwan based on their industrial characteristics into two major categories; OBM (Original Brand Manufacturer) and ODM (Original Design Manufacturer). In-depth interviews method is used in this study to collect related information from R&D and procurement personnel who work in OBM and ODM PC companies for their role play and the interactions between these two departments in the new product development. There are total of nine members from five PC companies have participated in interviews,a conclusion and seven propositions have been suggested. It is rather important to have an inter-departmental interactive cooperation in the PC industry especially for ODM-based companies whose profit source is mainly relied on maintaining a low cost production model. Early involvement for procurement in the new product development procedures can indeed help to effectively bring down the cost and to assist R&D personnel the most updated supplier information. As for OBM-based companies, R&D is given the mission to develop customized materials and parts to deliver a different product which stresses on product’s functionalities and features whereas the purchasing department will be involved in the price negotiation with suppliers to set the delivery date and order quantity. Cross-department and supplier cooperation in the early stage of product development is a crucial part for OBM-based companies.