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Developing separate or integrated configurators? A longitudinal case study

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  • Zhang, Linda L.
  • Shafiee, Sara

Abstract

Configurators have the potential to revolutionize the business processes of Engineering-to-order (ETO) companies. Despite their positive impacts on ETO companies' operations and strategies, there is a paucity of empirical investigations examining the development processes and practices of configurators, in particular integrated configurators. We, thus, carry out a longitudinal case study in a large ETO company to study and compare the characteristics and dynamics of the development process of an integrated sales and technical (ST) configurator with these of a sales configurator and a technical configurator. First, the findings uncover the nature of the integrated ST configurator development process in terms of development team formation, development planning activities, processes and activities that went wrong, and unplanned events and their handling. Second, performance evaluation with respect to several criteria contributes to a holistic picture of the development process of the integrated ST configurator. Based on the findings, we further shed light on managerial implications including the business process changes associated with the application of the integrated ST configurator and the need of having a clear, comprehensive project plan before development. To conclude, our study is expected to broaden ETO companies’ understanding of the development processes of integrated configurators and to guide them to make wise decisions in developing configurators.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Linda L. & Shafiee, Sara, 2022. "Developing separate or integrated configurators? A longitudinal case study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:249:y:2022:i:c:s0925527322001104
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108517
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Helo, Petri & Mayanti, Bening & Bejarano, Ronal & Sundman, Christian, 2024. "Sustainable supply chains – Managing environmental impact data on product platforms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    2. Sara Shafiee & Linda L. Zhang & Kourosh Marjani Rasmussen, 2024. "Improving Financial Literacy and Supporting Financial Decisions: Developing a Personalized Configurator," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 14256-14285, September.

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