Title: Quality management to facilitate product introduction across borders

Authors: Promporn Wangwacharakul; Martina Berglund; Ulrika Harlin

Addresses: Division of Logistics and Quality Management, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, SE-581-83 Linköping, Sweden ' Division of Logistics and Quality Management, HELIX Competence Centre, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, SE-581-83 Linköping, Sweden ' Division Material and Production, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, SE-431-53 Mölndal, Sweden

Abstract: This paper explores how quality management (QM) can be used to mitigate managerial challenges in new product introduction (NPI) across national borders. A longitudinal case study involving one Swedish and one Chinese company was conducted. The data were collected through 35 semi-structured interviews and five workshops with employees and managers of several functions before, during and after NPI in a product development project. Several managerial challenges in the cross-cultural collaboration were revealed. The study demonstrated that lack of understanding of cultural differences negatively affected the NPI process and product quality, but these challenges could be handled by a QM approach. Therefore, this paper proposes QM to help mitigate managerial challenges in cross-cultural NPI. The paper contributes to earlier research on the application of QM and the NPI field by suggesting QM as a means to bridge cultural gaps and facilitate NPI across borders.

Keywords: cross-cultural management; managerial challenges; new product development; industrialisation; Sweden; China; cross-cultural collaboration; quality management; case study; longitudinal case study.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2020.105960

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2020 Vol.29 No.2, pp.268 - 283

Accepted: 17 Nov 2018
Published online: 23 Mar 2020 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article