Impact of Information Technology on New Product Development Process in Korean Manufacturing Firms

정보기술이 신제품 개발프로세스에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 국내 제조업체를 중심으로

Manufacturing firms face a paradigm shift from industrial systems driven by efficiency to post-industrial systems where success depends on a quick-response to customer demands for a variety of high-quality products. In essence, time is becoming a critical dimension for competition. New information technologies allow many firms to pursue time-based competitive strategies. The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship among the types of information technology, behaviors of suppliers, the structures of new product development processes, and the competitiveness of the firms. The data for this study were collected from 96 Korean manufacturing firms that have implemented certain types of information technologies. Research results from LISREL analysis confirm that the competitiveness comes from product innovation capabilities and innovative product development process. But the linkage between the information technologies and the firms' competitiveness proves to be indirect. Suppliers, organizational culture related to IT, and some other factors also have indirect impact on the competitiveness. A summarized report of other findings is provided as well.