A current trend growing in popularity among companies involved in high-tech product development is to outsource the development of pieces and parts of a product and then to integrate them into a final product. This is accomplished either on a build to order basis in a manufacturing plant, such as companies like Dell Computer or IBM, or through combining various software components into a final release (for example, Microsoft). This trend offers many advantages, yet brings up many problems that have yet to be acknowledged or addressed effectively from an engineering management perspective.
In this research work, issues of concern in the outsourcing process are identified and the problems and complexities involved in joint product developments and their management are discussed. Addressed first is the joint development process. Then the identified problems of joint developments are presented, discussed and extrapolated to the dilemmas and issues currently faced by engineering managers. The research also investigates the issues of promoting and protecting innovation within this unique environment.
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