The underlying thesis investigates the time-cost tradeoff problem for cyclic product development (PD) processes. It is of great practical relevance since PD processes may involve an enormous amount of costly resources employed over a long period of time. Despite its thorough study in past decades, previous research and insights were based on unrealistic and strongly limiting assumptions. For instance, PD processes were merely modeled as acyclic networks and for analysis fundamental process parameters were rather treated separately than conjointly. Therefore, we introduce a new model for PD processes which overcomes the limitations of previous models and propose a time-cost simulation for it as well as an optimization strategy capable of detecting all best time-cost tradeoff solutions. Tests based on artificial and real-world PD processes demonstrate the need for our new approach and allow us to derive numerous managerial insights.
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The underlying thesis investigates the time-cost tradeoff problem for cyclic product development (PD) processes. It is of great practical relevance since PD processes may involve an enormous amount of costly resources employed over a long period of time. Despite its thorough study in past decades, previous research and insights were based on unrealistic and strongly limiting assumptions. For instance, PD processes were merely modeled as acyclic networks and for analysis fundamental process param...
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