Work distribution in global product development organizations

[摘要] (cont.) To understand these efficiency differences and address the above questions, we develop and analyze a stylized model (two tasks, two locations, two time periods) for a firm seeking to establish a product development center at an offshore location to benefit from cost savings. Our key results show that (a) firms should determine their offshore content to benefit from the existing knowledge base created by the prior offshored content and to create a knowledge base from which subsequent offshoring can benefit (indicating path dependent offshoring) rather than offshoring solely based on modularity; (b) efforts supporting offshoring should prioritize the coordination challenges between tasks at different locations before those between tasks at the offshore location; and (c) in an environment of high volatility of external factors, efforts should be prioritized to enhance the work time and coordination time efficiencies in the first (earliest) period.

[发布机构] Massachusetts Institute of Technology