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Identifying the cause and effect factors of agile NPD process with fuzzy DEMATEL method: the case of Iranian companies

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Abstract

Although the New Product Development (NPD) process is dynamic in nature, with the dawning of the new millennium the rate of the changes in this process has been increased. Individual customer needs, pressure of global competition, fragmentation of markets into smaller segments, rapid and never ending changes in technological aspects and flexible production, force the NPD teams to introduce new products to the markets as rapidly as possible. In response to these dynamic and unanticipated changes agile NPD is a focus to manufacturing enterprises. Identifying the cause and effect factors of this kind of system can help the NPD managers to show a good view of this process and improve their decision making quality. In this paper first among 32 main items related to agile NPD process, 6 critical success factors are extracted by using the explanatory factor analysis method done on the NPD projects in Iranian companies and then to compensate the vagueness in the complex and dynamic environment of agile NPD and also the uncertain human judgment about the factors affecting this process, Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is proposed to divide these critical success factors into cause and effect groups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmark Street, Tehran, Iran

    Roxana Fekri, Alireza Aliahmadi & Mohammad Fathian

  2. Third floar, 13, Mohandesi Ave, Shariati street, Tehran, Iran

    Roxana Fekri

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  1. Roxana Fekri
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  2. Alireza Aliahmadi
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Correspondence to Roxana Fekri.

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Fekri, R., Aliahmadi, A. & Fathian, M. Identifying the cause and effect factors of agile NPD process with fuzzy DEMATEL method: the case of Iranian companies. J Intell Manuf 20, 637–648 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-008-0153-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-008-0153-x

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