Facing extreme uncertainty–how the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced product development
Loading...
Access rights
openAccess
publishedVersion
URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
This publication is imported from Aalto University research portal.
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
Date
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
21
Series
International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, Volume 11, issue 2, pp. 117-137
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global disruption, but little is known about how it impacted product development. Based on interviews of 24 practicing product development leaders, we find that COVID-19 generated a unique combination of external and internal uncertainties and thus had several direct impacts on product development. Initial adaptations were reported in the level of innovation pursued, the development processes and the resourcing. In terms of level of innovation and resourcing, no uniformity in adaptations were observed: opposite changes were made across radical/incremental, expanding/reducing, local/international and internal/external collaboration balances in the different companies’ product development activities. Process adaptations were more uniform in direction, focusing on increasing flexibility and agility. In terms of product development methods for different phases, we find companies quickly seeking creative approaches to replace their traditional methods in idea generation, prototyping, customer interaction, validation etc. with virtual means. Furthermore, changes in human interaction quality, particularly informal interaction, were seen to have far-reaching, unintended negative consequences on their creative efforts, whether in product development, development process or resourcing. Overall, the results highlight the diversity of adaptive choices available to respond to external uncertainties, though more research is still needed on how these influence longer term resilience.Description
Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Other note
Citation
Hölttä-Otto, K, Björklund, T, Klippert, M, Otto, K, Krause, D, Eckert, C, Nespoli, O & Albers, A 2023, 'Facing extreme uncertainty–how the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced product development', International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 117-137. https://doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2022.2157888