The Culture Adaptation of New Product Development in China

Western companies have started to explore China as a source of technology. Yet western new product development processes are frequently shaped by a number of well - known contrasts between Chinese and Western culture characteristics, such as collectivism versus individualism, relationship and group harmony concern versus contractual attitude, strong versus weak uncertainty avoidance, etc. A case study of Lucent China Research and Technology Center shows how new product development process can be effectively tuned to align with local culture environment, which is on TL9000 global requirements basis. The oversea company's branch has recognized the need to adjusted key checking points during telecommunication software development and has gained remarkable success in quality improvement and productivity enhancement. At the same time, lessons and recommendations on the adjustment of China style will be drawn from the case study for international companies that locate NPD in China.