ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the use of collaboration systems in the product development process through case analysis of global companies in the fields of IT, telecommunications, electronics, automotive (including parts manufacturers), machinery, electronic components, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, distribution and apparel, to clarify the differences in these companies’ usage of collaboration systems in each phase (or step) of their new product development processes (including the new business development processes). This means the differences in usage forms of collaboration systems focusing on longitudinal temporal changes in business processes.
In existing IS research, there has not been much experimental study or case analysis from these longitudinal aspects. In other words, much of the prior research consists of empirical studies of snapshots of usage forms or fixed business details – research into collaboration systems focusing on the temporal changes of product development work remains undeveloped. The chapter clarifies that companies engage in “ambidextrous IT management,” which involves combining “uncertainty management (exploration)” for new product development and “management of existing business (exploitation)” for upgrading existing products, and in so doing use different types of collaboration systems to respond to temporal and circumstantial changes in development processes.
