The application of Project management methodology and Human resources tools in the restructuring of Product development process and teams. A study case of a functionally organized family owned company in Argentina.
This study case was written for the Conference held in India -dec.07- organized by the Product Development & Management Association.
Download the complete file in this post. a-leap-in-the-evolution-of-product-development-application-of-project-management-methodology.pdf See abstract below.
Author: Eduardo Francisco Navarro
International trade degree, Universidad Argentina de la Empresa
MBA, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina
Project Management Professional –PMP-, Stevens Institute of Technology, USA
Abstract
Most local family owned companies operating in developing countries have problems in
applying worldwide best practices in their core processes. Usually, there are various reasons underlying this situation: the organization is usually attached to status quo and traditional practices, especially when these prove to be effective in some way; their strong functional structure clashes with that small but also existing matrix and cooperative structure usually in the Product development area. Last, there is a weak empowerment and a poor level of attraction of the best trained and experienced professionals.
The local industry in developing countries is ploughed with these problems which have a negative impact on the Product development and innovation process and the teams in charge of them. Despite being a vital process, it is often disregarded just as much as their teams are. Companies in this industry usually focus their attention on the production process of existing products because this brings the necessary revenue for present operations. Maintaining a chaotic and inefficient product development process and poorly motivated teams is shortsighted and may severely compromises the future growth and even the sustainability of the company.
This paper shows the situation of an Argentine pharmaceutical and cosmetics company,
born in the 20´s. Facing a crisis in terms of the development and launching of new products, it had a successful turnaround after implementing the Project Management methodology and Human resources tools especially selected to rebuild the project teams. The lessons learned during the evolution of this turnaround process can be applied with small adjustments to most local small and medium family owned companies seeking to restructure or create a product development area with state-of-the-art practices, allowing them to profit from a pipeline of products.
Index
1. Introduction
2. Presentation of the company
3. Diagnosis of the situation back in 2005 and identification of causes that
prevented successful product development
a. First section: Problems that the company was facing
b. Root causes o f the poor performance
4. Restructuring of the function of product development
a. The three stages of the process of change
b. Methodology and tools. Selection and implementation.
5. Evidence of positive evolution after 2 years
6. Conclusions
7. Bibliography
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