Original scientific paper

Influence of Polyvalence Professionals on Product Development Process Efficiency

Jure MEGLIČ ; Faculty of organisational sciences, University of Maribor, MAribor, Slovenia
Tomaž KERN
Benjamin URH
Janez BALKOVEC
Matjaž ROBLEK

Abstract

Product development is one of a company’s key processes for meeting customer demands, providing long-term market share growth, revenues and company value. The main question we are addressing in this paper is how the professionals with more and better developed competencies (polyvalence professionals) increase efficiency of the product development process. We presume that the efficiency of the product development process is significantly influenced by the matching rate between the competencies of professionals and the task requirements of the process. The hypothesis was tested in an international study in which five footwear companies from three European countries participated. By analysing variances and using correlation and regression analyses, we prove the influence of polyvalence professionals on the product development process efficiency. We also prove that polyvalence professionals are the strategic resources who provide a company’s long-term competitive advantage, allowing efficient development of new products thus having high response rate to customer demands.

Keywords

Allocation; CAD; Competencies; PDM; Polyvalence professionals; Product development process

Hrčak ID:

43589

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/43589

Publication date:

30.4.2009.

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