How does PLM enhance international inter organizational new product development? Knowledge transfer and translation with boundary spanners

An important question for IS researchers and practitioners is how IT can improve new product development (NPD) in the context of inter organizational development. More precisely, this paper aims at understanding how Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technology contributes to NPD knowledge integration in this environment. It is based on a longitudinal case study of a French industrial Group with design teams located in Europe, which had greatly increased development work with China at the time of the study. The first author participated in PLM implementations in Asia over the course of four years. Data analyses indicate a reduction of communication problems, from which we infer a positive contribution of PLM to knowledge transfer and knowledge translation. PLM reinforces the role of outsourced Chinese engineers who act as a boundary spanner with Chinese suppliers.