2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
German and Japanese Auto-parts Suppliers' Project Management
| Project/Area Number |
18K12842
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| Research Institution | Kyushu University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | Project management / Automotive industry |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Research results of the case study were presented at an academic conference.
Findings can be summarised as follows: First, while the literature on project management suggests that multiple customers with different requirements provide many opportunities for inter-project knowledge transfer, the findings of the case study show that the supplier opted for an engineering-based solutions that tracks differing requirements and engineers customisable base designs. Hence, the case study shows that suppliers may utilize engineering-based strategies instead of project management. Second, despite the success of this engineering-based strategy, the case firm seeks closer integration with customers for novel products. Thus, the nature of the individual product has strong influence on the depth of collaboration between carmaker and supplier.
While the presentation received some positive feedback, especially concerning the gap between best practice described in the academic literature and the actual practice of a leading supplier, it is clear that additional research, both on the particular case and additional cases, is necessary.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
4: Progress in research has been delayed.
Reason
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the implementation of the research. As the research is based on interviews and the pandemic makes interviews and international travel difficult (or even impossible), the research cannot be conducted as planned.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
As the conference paper received positive feedback, it is not planned to change the research strategy.
The case firm may be willing to welcome a visit to German R&D headquarters when the COVID-19 pandemic allows it. However, the investigator's university is currently prohibiting international travel, which makes it difficult to make any predictions about the practical feasibility of this option.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Because the project was delayed this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, funding could not be used as originally intended for this project.
Therefore, it is requested to utilise these funds in the next fiscal year for the purpose of the research project. The funding should be used to
finance data collection and field research with automotive suppliers when this becomes possible again.
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