Time-to-Market and Product Performance Tradeoff Revisited

The profitability, and even the survival, of organizations depends on the number and quality of new products introduced into the market. However, the process of developing new products (and estimating the proper timing for their introduction into the market) remains a rich topic for research and investigation within the product development (PD) community as it lies at the intersection of the engineering and marketing disciplines. A unifying model that brings both engineering and marketing concerns together is necessary to bridge the gap between both disciplines. In this article, a mathematical model is introduced to study the tradeoff between product performance and time-to-market for different PD scenarios. These scenarios vary in three main aspects related to product characteristics (i.e., the product complexity and the product newness) and supply chain configuration (i.e., the degree of supplier involvement). The model aims to maximize the revenue of the firm over a limited marketing window. The optimal solution reveals interesting managerial insights regarding the time that must be spent on “system design” and on “detailed design” phases for each PD scenario.