This research addresses the question of whether quality management and fast product innovation represent a tradeoff, or whether quality practices can enhance the speed of product innovation. Specific research propositions to be investigated include 1) reduced development time and reduced ramp-up time contribute to fast product innovation, 2) firms which pursue fast product development in the absence of a well-established quality management initiative will achieve inferior results, and 3) the use of overlapping product development stages will lead to less design rework and faster product innovation. Both exploratory and confirmatory research methods will be used. In the exploratory phase, eight case studies will be developedusing structured interviews, site tours, archival sources, and qualitative data analysis techniques. In the confirmatory phase, themes, concepts, and relationships emerging from the exploratory work will be tested using large-scale survey methods and quantitative analysis techniques. Companies participating in this study include Texas Instruments, Honeywell, Unisys, and Medtronic.
