The maturity of product lifecycle management in Dutch organizations: A strategic alignment perspective

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is increasingly important for organizations acting in dynamic and competitive markets. In practice however, companies struggle with implementing PLM. PLM is rather a concept than a system, as its main premises are to improve sustainable advantage through agility and innovation. The concept implies structural, cross-functional and long-term cooperation between actors in- and outside the firm. This complexity hampers the achievement of a solid PLM approach that truly integrates all organizational aspects and levels. The central aim of this paper is to develop a framework that supports such an integrative PLM approach. This framework builds upon insights from business/IT-alignment and capability maturity. The results of a first empirical assessment of 23 Dutch organizations are presented, which is used to empirically validate the framework and to provide benchmark data. Based on the framework and benchmark results a PLM roadmap for organizations is proposed to increase their competitive advantage..