Strategic aspects in collaborative product design: results of a survey in Swiss industry

Due to the increasing complexity of technologies and products, the search for new know-how as well as the shortening of development cycle times a lot of companies collaborate in (new) product design. But only as little as fifty percent of these ventures are successful for both partners. One explanation for this lies in the lack of consideration of the strategic aspects of collaboration. This paper explains which aspects of strategy influence the process and outcome of collaborative product design, gives some advice on what project managers can do and shows some results of a survey conducted in Swiss industry.