Product Development Decision-Making in the US and Japan

A Japanese-Western multinational product development organization operating within the field of consumer electronics was the subject of a multiple case study in product development decision- making. The organization in the study has experienced a number of observed decision-making phenomena, such as the stopping and restarting of projects, decision reversals, and large changes in direction. All of the decision cases under study exhibited one or more of these decision-making constructs. The management problem under consideration was to understand the factors that have led to this instability in product development decision-making. The factors of highest importance were assumed to lie within the realm of information management, cultural differences, and decision- making process. The case data suggests that the primary factor underlying the decision-making phenomena is the Japanese culture based consensus- building algorithm.