A product development process for linked management: application cases of electrical home appliance products

The effective linkage between necessary functions is critically important to implement a business strategy and achieve satisfactory performances. The linkage covers the essential activities from upstream actions (technology and product development) to downstream ones (procurement, manufacturing and selling). We propose that the construction of the effective linkage starts with the process of product development and requires the consistent effort to systematise the process based on the case study of the home appliance division of a Japanese electrical appliance manufacturing company. The case would be suggestive to many large Japanese companies not-least part of which business consists of the matured products facing severe competition.