A New Model for Simultaneous Attainment of Price Reduction and Product Differentiation in the New Product Development.

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The cost reduction system for reducing the price of the product at the new product development is widely known as "target costing." However, in reality not only the simultaneous attainment of cost reduction and quality improvement must be ensured but these two fields should be integrated and carried out simultaneously. In this research we extended the target costing system where a system has been developed for the simultaneous attainment of products' differentiation and their price reduction. For this purpose, following 5 aspects have been carried out during the 3 years period from 1996 to 1998.1) We clarified which combination(s) of the factors of a product development organization (which includes parts suppliers also) and the factors relating to the accounting system of target costing will improve the most the cost reduction performance at the product development stage.2) We also clarified that which combination of target costing and quality management system will conform the best in various business environments.3) On the basis of questionnaire survey and laboratory experiment, we verified how the tightness inherent in the target cost determination methods influences the cost reduction performance in the product development.4) The relative merits and demerits of QFD and VE in the new product development were compared.5) Further, on the basis of the data collected from a questionnaire survey, we verified whether the differences in the degree of product designer's participation in the weight determination and the differences in their performance evaluation measures affect the simultaneous attainment of quality and cost in the product development.Among the findings of the above mentioned researches, 3 articles have been published in the international refereed journals while 4 articles have been published in the Japanese journals. Moreover, some of the research results were presented in 10 national and international conferences.