Book Reviews

The first review describes the eighth book we have reviewed on the general topic of faster new product development. This book is distinguished by its emphasis on human issues, especially in the context of contracted development for an original equipment manufacturer. The second review covers a book that contrasts the Japanese and U.S. approach to product development. The book indicates that U.S. companies should put more emphasis on early predevelopment activities. The third review describes how Kodak's black and white film-making operation was overhauled by a team effort. Our reviewer suggests that many of the book's team-building lessons must be adopted for any company to change its culture and improve its product development performance. The fourth review describes a short book about quality function deployment (QFD). Although the book lacks specific product development examples, the reviewer recommends it as a helpful primer on this important product development tool. The fifth review reports on a technology management book. The book comprises a series of separately authored chapters on varied issues, some of which are directly pertinent to developers of technology-based new products. The reviews conclude with a brief note about a book on rapid prototyping.     

Book Reviews

We have reviews of five books that deserve practitioners' attention. The first review discusses the sixth book about accelerating new product development that we have recently reviewed. The McGrath et al. book will be of particular value to those readers who work in large firms on large new product development projects. The second and third reviews cover second editions of significant books. Randy Englund's review of Russ Archibald's book on project management emphasizes how this discipline has value to all new product development project teams. James Scheu reports that George Gruenwald's useful book is of special value to those working in the package goods industry.
The last two reviews stress aspects of teamwork. George Castellion notes that the book by Katzenbach and Smith helpfully illuminates the difference between teamwork and teams. Randy Englund's review of the book by Jeffrey Pfeffer draws our attention to the role and potential abuse of a manager's power in product development.     

Book Reviews

Our coverage opens with a review of the fourth edition of C. Merle Crawford's book, which continues the comprehensive coverage of previous editions while adding important topics. The next review discusses the second edition of Robert Cooper's book. This new book updates his exposition of success and failure determinants, and reemphasizes the utility of a stage-gate development process. The third review comments on a long-term study of five innovative high technology firms. The review identifies five critical lessons for other similar firms. This is followed by the positive review of a recent book co-authored by one of the book review editors. Appropriately, this review was managed by Thomas Hustad, without any contact with its authors. The fifth review examines a book that combines two modern, popular management tools. The reviewer finds that these can be useful for product developers. Next, another reviewer comments favorably on a recent textbook that emphasizes the value creation process associated with effective product development and management practices. The seventh describes a book that examines and contrasts international practices. Although the material comes from a 1990 conference, our reviewer concludes that it still provides important lessons. The eighth review covers a strategy book. The book has some useful information but will be of limited help to most practitioners. The ninth review discusses a book about change and the need for organizational modification. Our reviewer feels it is of limited value to practitioners but will be of interest to academics. The reviews conclude with brief notes about three other books.     

TQM是TQC的发展阶段吗?——关于“全面质量管理”称谓的诌议

我国早在1978年便从日本引入Total Quality Control(简称TQC),中文译文为"全面质量管理"。从那时起,TQC便深入人心。若干年后国内外的一些专家学者在讲学时提到Total Quality Management(简称TQM),中文译文也称"全面质量管理"。TQC与TQM并无本质区别,正如中国质量协会在所编《全面质量管理基本知识》第二次修订本一书中所指出的:"对全面质量管理的称呼,各国有所不同,例如,有称它为CNQC的,也有称它为TQM的等等,称呼不同,但其实质内容是相同的"。因此,当前在石油工业企业界和理论界,不要拘泥于TQC与TQM在称谓上的演变,应坚持全面质量管理(TQC)的基本原理不动摇,若遇来自国外资料和专家讲学中所提TQM时,在理解上应视为TQC或TQC的创新与发展,不能视其为"TQM阶段",而人为地把它与TQC完全地分离开来。     

Book Reviews

The first review discusses a provocative book about innovation and the impact of technological change. Although the book also provides all readers with an invaluable historical perspective, the reviewer believes that it lacks predictive utility for practitioners. The second review covers a book devoted to strategic breakthroughs. The reviewer finds that the focus on the customer and the role of top management can be valuable for practitioners. The third review describes a book covering competitive advantage. Our reviewer praises the book highly, finding it of particular value for practitioners, both seasoned and novice. The fourth review is of a book devoted to improving new product development. The reviewer recommends the book as providing detailed practical guidance.
This issue also reviews two new books of special interest to professors. The first, by Robert Dolan, is a short text-and-cases book dealing with new product development and commercialization, primarily from the standpoint of strategic needs, data sources, and decision analytic methodologies. The second, by Richard Nelson, is a compendium of thoughtful essays dealing with the national innovation systems of fifteen different countries.     

Book Reviews

The first review describes a book devoted to the value and conduct of customer visits. The reviewer recommends it as especially valuable for practitioners in firms producing goods and services for business-to-business markets. The second review covers a book devoted to the integration of process design and development. Our reviewer finds that the book provides valuable coverage of an important but frequently overlooked aspect of product development. The third review covers a book of particular value to manufacturers. Although lacking in specific examples, the authors' experience is persuasive in addressing key issues that overlap points covered in the book discussed in the preceding review. The fourth review examines a book about competitive positioning. The book has value for those needing an introduction to this important topic. This issue also reviews two books of special interest to academics teaching and conducting research in the area of product innovation. The first offering is essentially a comprehensive review of the growing literature on how technology can improve collaborative work among individuals or groups. It covers theoretical foundations, conceptual paradigms, empirical research to date, and an agenda for future research. The next book is an advanced but relatively user-friendly text covering all facets of the new product development process. It is loaded with examples and cases and draws on a wide range of concepts and methodologies from the marketing and general management literature.     

Kellogg on Branding: By the Marketing Faculty of the Kellogg School of Management by Alice M. Tybout and Tim Calkins (eds.)

These reviews are intended to help you reach a decision about purchasing or reading a book. But more importantly, they are meant to bring to your attention notable contemporary topics related to product innovation. The review here of The Change Function illustrates this point well. According to Amazon.com sales rankings (on August 23, 2006), this book is more popular than any we have reviewed in the past year—including Geoffrey A. Moore's Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution (Penguin, 2005). Yet the reviewer points out some critical weaknesses in The Change Function's treatment of truly innovative products. Just because a book is popular with a general business audience does not mean that it is adequate for new product professionals. Should you decide to read it, we hope that our review helps you, as a product developer, to get more out of it.
Books reviewed in this issue:

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  Kellogg on Branding: By the Marketing Faculty of the Kellogg School of Management

       
  
  

Strategic (MIS)FIT: The Implementation of TQM in Manufacturing Organizations

This paper explores how fit with the organization's strategic orientation relates to performance following total quality management (TQM) implementation. Conceptualizing the organization as a system of interrelated activities, we propose that TQM is an ‘elaborating element’ that achieves internal fit when the core elements of the activity system are orientated toward a ‘cost leadership’ rather than ‘differentiation’ strategic position. When internal fit occurs, TQM drives tighter interactions among core elements in the activity system, resulting in greater performance. Using longitudinal data from a sample of 780 manufacturing organizations, we find that TQM is positively related to performance for cost leaders, but negatively related to performance for differentiators. Our findings support the contingency perspective whereby internal fit serves as an overarching contextual factor influencing TQM success. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Book Reviews

This issue provides reviews of four books and brief notes for two others. The first book that is reviewed covers services comprehensively. It traces the growth from the industrial era and attempts to project future trends. The second review is of a book written by a practitioner with the company that is frequently judged to be the new product development "gold standard." Although the book can be somewhat unfocused at times, six key lessons are enunciated. The third book covered here is about compressing time-to-market for engineered or technology-based products. Our reviewer suggests that it is most useful for experienced practitioners in larger companies. The last book is about teams. The reviewer finds it overly long but useful in its treatment of teaming among organizations.     

Book Reviews

The three books we review this month deal with important practical aspects of the new product development process. John Moran's review of a book by Robert Haavind emphasizes the importance of quality and provides many pointers on how this can be enhanced. Although the book is primarily of value for manufacturing firms, it also deals with quality for services, emphasizing, for example, the importance of including the customer in the firm's development activity. Vic Prushan reviews a book by Michael Spendolini on benchmarking, a practice that is important to the improvement of quality. This practice is applicable to any firm developing any new good or service. Finally, John Cushman reviews a book by Donald Carter and Barbara Baker on concurrent engineering, finding the book to be of greatest interest to technical people working in the development of technology-based products.     

Do it separately or simultaneously—An empirical analysis of a conjoint implementation of TQM and TPM on plant performance

Over the last decades, Total Quality Management (TQM) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) have become key concepts for improving production. The majority of modern manufacturing companies has implemented at least one of these improvement programs or even both of them. The common ground of TQM and TPM is the focus on human resources. In this paper, the impact of TQM and TPM on plant performance and especially the supporting role of employee involvement practices is investigated empirically using multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling. The data used for conducting the analyses is taken from the international research project High Performance Manufacturing that contains the data of 238 plants. The results indicate that TQM and TPM, supported by HR practices, have a significant potential to improve plant performance. However, a simultaneous implementation of both concepts does not necessarily lead to superior performance. As potential reason for this, human resources are regarded as limiting factor both improvement programs draw on. Accordingly, this scarce resource is identified as crucial element with respect to performance when implementing TQM and TPM simultaneously.     

X-Teams: How To Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, and Succeed by Deborah Ancona and Henrik Bresman

I am retiring from the profession and from this position as your book review editor; the very capable Donovan Hardenbrook will be your next editor. I think we have worked out a seamless transition, but Donovan will doubtless bring his energy and innovation to the position. These nearly five years as editor have been a lot of work but a great deal of satisfaction too. This position is the best one in the world for keeping on top of the newest thinking in product development, for being able to see the latest books as—or even before—they are published, and for learning by editing the work of knowledgeable reviewers critically. Some statistics: In nearly five years, we received 560 books for review, reviewed 144 of them, processed 659 review drafts, and discarded about 430 books (mostly to The Prisoners Literature Project). A more modern metric: I received 3,372 e‐mails about book reviews (and probably sent a similar number). Of course, I've had much help, which I would like to acknowledge. Tony Di Benedetto, the journal editor, was a constant source of encouragement and support, and Beebe Nelson, the former book review editor, backed me up. Our 41 active reviewers did the real work, and some of them are prolific reviewers: Mark Hart, George Castellion, Ruediger Klein, and Gerald Mulenburg each reviewed 10 or more books. Kristi Bennett, our copyeditor, has done a wonderful job of ensuring the consistency of these offerings. Finally, we are indebted to about 70 book publishers (technically, imprints) that supplied the review copies gratis. Books reviewed in this issue:

• ? X‐Teams: How To Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, and Succeed
• ? Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond
• ? Something Really New: Three Simple Steps to Creating Truly Innovative Products
• ? Smart Isn't Enough: Lessons from a Work Performance Coach
• ? The Power of Mobility: How Your Business Can Compete and Win in the Next Technology Revolution

     

Managing strategic change through TQM: learning from failure

This article argues that the study of total quality management (TQM) failure is a valuable vehicle to extend our knowledge of strategic change management. The article reviews the literature on TQM and, after reporting the findings from an in-depth case study concludes by discussing the meaning of 'failure' and the lessons for managing strategic change that can be learnt from the study of TQM decline.     

Total quality management as competitive advantage: A review and empirical study

Total Quality Management (TQM) has become, according to one source, ‘as pervasive a part of business thinking as quarterly financial results,’ and yet TQM's role as a strategic resource remains virtually unexamined in strategic management research. Drawing on the resource approach and other theoretical perspectives, this article examines TQM as a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage, reviews existing empirical evidence, and reports findings from a new empirical study of TQM's performance consequences. The findings suggest that most features generally associated with TQM—such as quality training, process improvement, and benchmarking—do not generally produce advantage, but that certain tacit, behavioral, imperfectly imitable features—such as open culture, employee empowerment, and executive commitment—can produce advantage. The author concludes that these tacit resources, and not TQM tools and techniques, drive TQM success, and that organizations that acquire them can outperform competitors with or without the accompanying TQM ideology.     

A new look at factors influencing total quality management failure: work process control or workforce control?

By drawing on multi-case data, there is some evidence to suggest that total quality management (TQM) effectiveness can be viewed as a direct function of the controlling mechanisms that senior managers created prior to TQM implementation. More importantly, control tools of TQM were not used by non-managerial employees, with which they could reduce variability or achieve uniformity; rather, they were regarded as a weapon used by their managers against them.     

Book Reviews

The first review is of a book that probably should be required reading for most personnel who participate in new product development—both academics and practitioners. It focuses on product innovation, primarily from an engineering perspective. Special emphasis is given to product design and development issues ranging from attribute specification and design for manufacturing to the economics and management of product development projects. Although the book has limitations, it provides highly relevant insights, especially for those involved with engineered products. The second review covers a book devoted to software development, which is becoming a ubiquitous ingredient in many products. Our reviewer reports that the book offers much practical wisdom. The third and fourth reviews discuss books for practitioners that are focused on specialized areas: biomedical and clinical instrumentation and food products. Although specialized, the first of these books offers some broader, more general lessons. The other will be of greatest value to those developing food products who have statistical training. The next three reviews cover other books of greatest interest to practitioners. The first is also most useful for those developing engineered products. The second will be of most use to less experienced personnel. The third book is about teamwork—now regarded by most practitioners as essential—but with only a few examples pertinent to product development. The last two reviews report on books that will be primarily of interest to academics and of limited interest to practitioners. The first of these two reviews describes a conference proceedings book, which is a compendium of unusually thoughtful presentations on the impact of changes in information technology on the design and execution of marketing actions. The articles in this collection are at once balanced in terms of level and style and comprehensive in terms of their overall coverage. The second covers a product management textbook with special emphasis on opportunity identification and the alignment of effort and resources with such opportunities.     

Book Reviews

In light of the changes occurring in the European Common Market in 1992, it is particularly timely to review two books that contrast new product development practices in the United States with those in Europe and other countries. Both books are based on academics' research but are intended to provide practical insights for practitioners. The first review is of a book that summarizes an extensive study of the world auto industry. This book, which does offer many practical lessons, compares industry practices in the United States, Europe and Japan. The second review, by Chris Panton, examines a book that contrasts product development practices in American and British firms. Our reviewer finds that this book primarily offers an effective summary of conventional wisdom but fewer practical insights.     

Book Reviews

These reviews remind us that although they are aimed at helping you reach a purchase decision on the book, perhaps more importantly, they are intended to enlighten you in emerging areas of product and service development. New books are perfect for learning about new trends or extensions of the knowledge base, and they allow you to delve into allied areas that are likely to affect your career in product innovation.
Thus, Ruediger Klein reviews our first non-English book, which will expose non-German readers to a German view of software management and product management. Carla Kuesten gives us an in-depth view of a single industry—the food industry—with lessons that readers can probably translate to their field. For future issues, we have a lawyer reviewing books on intellectual property protection, and another review will cover current topics in China regarding product development.
Please let us know of other tangents we should be covering.
Books reviewed in this issue:

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  The PDMA ToolBook 2 for New Product Development

       
  
  

Book Reviews

The first review discusses a book on major innovative breakthroughs. The book educationally summarizes fourteen histories of important new products and services, draws general conclusions from these cases, but seems to lack predictive lessons that can assure future dramatic new products. The second and third reviews cover books devoted to cross-functional teams and teamwork. Both books provide helpful guidance in dealing with the practical aspects of making such teams function well in new product development projects. The fourth book describes a rather mechanical lock-step approach to concurrent engineering or total quality development, which is considered its synonym. Specific components are discussed in detail. These include technological development, concept phase, design phase, and production preparation. Although the book ignores the role of marketing, it should prove useful to those interested in the detailed reviews of mechanical engineering procedures such as "The House of Q uality," engineering concept selection, and Taguchi methods of process design analysis. The reviews conclude with brief notes about three other books.     

TQM practices and knowledge sharing: An empirical study of Malaysia’s manufacturing organizations

The purpose of this paper is to examine the multidimensionality of TQM practices and its relationship with knowledge sharing as perceived by middle management employees in Malaysia’s ISO 9001:2000 certified firms of manufacturing sectors. The data which were collected from a survey of 129 middle management employees in Malaysia were used to test the proposed research framework. Furthermore, confirmatory factor analysis was performed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and the structural analysis was used to examine the research framework. The analytical results revealed that training and development, customer focus, and teamwork showed a positive association with middle management employees’ knowledge sharing. This analysis is vital for senior managers of TQM companies that want to establish a knowledge sharing capability. Senior managers could focus their efforts on implementing TQM practices for building competitive knowledge sharing competencies.