Concurrent engineering (CE) is a distinctive approach to the organisation and management of new product development (NPD) which seeks to achieve cross-functional integration, product life cycle design integration and high levels of project task concurrence in order to reduce development lead times. To address the limited research to date on CE in the Asia-Pacific region, the paper presents find...

Since transition markets are playing an increasingly important role in the global economy and in the international innovation arena, there is a need to understand how IT affects firms’ process and product innovations and ultimately their competitive performance in these markets. Drawing on innovation literature and the IT capabilities portfolio perspective as well as the distinctive environment...

International Integration, Risk and the Welfare State How does international integration affect the welfare state? Does it call for a leaner or an expanded welfare state? International integration may affect the distortions caused by welfare state activities but also the risks motivating social insurance mechanisms. This paper addresses these potentially counteracting effects in a fully specifi...

As a result of a new product development paradigm, there is a greater need for software tools to effectively support the formal representation, collect and exchange of product information during the product development stage. This paper presents a vision of next-generation engineering working environments for virtual enterprises. The concept of “Virtual product development environment” (VPDE) t...