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However, as Andy Hewett notes in an earlier chapter, implementation of PLM
solutions has not been easy and many firms have been struggling with both technical
and managerial issues related to PLM deployment. This in turn raises several issues
for future research.
In particular, there are three broad research issues that present the most promise
in terms of potential insights for successful PLM deployment.
The first issue relates to developing a deeper understanding of the broader prod-
uct development context within which the IT solution is deployed . Specifically, what
is the product development strategy (and the product portfolio strategy) and how
does the IT solution complement such a strategy? For example, the nature of PLM
implementation in companies that have adopted a product platform strategy (Gawer
& Cusumano, 2002) is likely to be different compared to that in companies which
pursue more integrated product architectures. Similarly, the adoption of portfolio
management practices may, in turn, place relatively more emphasis on certain func-
tionalities of the PLM solution with implications on the ease of implementation.
Thus, future research should focus on identifying the key elements of the product
development context and examine their interaction effects with the IT solution. Such
an approach could lead to valuable insights on strategies and practices that need to
accompany PLM implementation efforts.
The second research issue relates to the process and technological infrastruc-
ture that complements the PLM solution. A critical task in PLM implementation
is the integration of the IT solution with other enterprise applications such as ERP
and CRM. Future studies should focus on examining the impact of different con-
figurations of process and technological infrastructure on PLM implementation
success. Several factors including the type of process and data standards that have
been adopted by the organization will shape the relative ease of integrating the
PLM solution with other enterprise applications. Thus, insights from these studies
could enable organizations to ensure that the right set of process and technological
infrastructure is established prior to PLM implementation.
The third and final research issue relates to the implementation of PLM in a
distributed innovation context where the PLM functionalities cross organizational
boundaries . As more and more companies embrace external partners in product
development activities, the scope of the PLM solution will need to extend to include
such inter-firm interactions. This raises several interesting issues for future research.
For example, what are the characteristics of Web-enabled PLM solutions that are
likely to be useful in such collaborative innovation contexts? How should com-
panies integrate their product development activities with those of their external
partners using PLM solutions? What are the important antecedents to the success-
ful implementation of such cross-border integration? Studies that focus on these
and other issues would likely offer valuable insights that could help extending PLM
functionalities to support collaborative innovation initiatives.
As might be evident from the brief discussion of the above three issues, studies
that address these issues will need to adopt an interdisciplinary approach and incor-
porate theoretical constructs and frameworks from different areas including product
development, strategy, operations, and IT.
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