Authors: Krishna, Chimata Murali¹; Ray, Pradip Kumar²

Source: International Journal of Technology Marketing, Volume 3, Number 3, 15 August 2008 , pp. 223-257(35)

Publisher: Inderscience Publishers

Abstract:

Product diversification may be achieved by developing and extending one's capabilities to build the foundation of new but related product families. This helps manufacturing firms to offer a large variety of products to suit individual customer requirements. Hence, a critical element of product diversification is managing the level of product variety and the extent of product development capabilities, particularly the 'in-house functional capability' and the 'outsourcing capability'. The research in this paper is directed at establishing empirical relationships between product variety and the in-house as well as outsourcing capabilities in manufacturing firms. A comprehensive methodology, which involves the use of the multi-attribute utility function approach, fuzzy analytical hierarchy method and multiple regression analysis, is developed in order to model the relationships between product variety and product development capability. The methodology developed is applied in a manufacturing firm to validate the model and the results are discussed.

Keywords: MANAGEMENT JOURNALS; Operational Management, Marketing and Services; Policy and Organisational Management; Technology Management

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJTMKT.2008.019923

Affiliations: 1: Department of Mechanical Engineering, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli, India. 2: Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India

Publication date: 2008-08-15

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