Decision making in product development: Are you outside-in or inside-out? Working paper series--07-05

Summers, Gary J. and Scherpereel, Christopher M. (2007) Decision making in product development: Are you outside-in or inside-out? Working paper series--07-05. Working Paper. NAU W.A. Franke College of Business.

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Abstract

What characteristics of a business system ensure success? We answer this question by first considering how business systems affect the decision-making process. By comparing two manufacturing systems, MRP II and JIT, two broad categories of business systems are exposed, Outside-In and Inside-Out. Outside-In systems address decision problems by calculating the best solutions and pushing those solutions into the business process. Outside-In systems embrace complexity and give decision-makers many degrees of freedom. When a decision error is made, Outside-In systems respond by addressing the error in the next round of decision making. Inside-Out systems ease decision making by structuring and guiding decisions with rules and tools. This simplifies the decision-making environment and constrains decision making. If errors are made, rules and tools are adjusted or added to prevent the mistake from being repeated. Heiner's reliability theory and our comparison suggest that Inside-Out systems are superior in many cases. Given this conclusion, we then briefly consider two Inside-Out product development systems, Lean and Agile. We conclude by applying the Inside-Out approach to change management and suggest how managers can improve their product development systems

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Publisher’s Statement:	Copyright, where appropriate, is held by the author.
ID number or DOI:	07-05
Keywords:	Working paper, product development, decision making, change management
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Faculty/Staff
Department/Unit:	The W.A. Franke College of Business
Date Deposited:	18 Oct 2015 00:10
URI:	http://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/1541

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