集成產品開發中針對機會主義的治理機制研究

Abstract

As economic globalization deepens, multinational companies in various industries have unprecedented opportunities for development in this wave of globalization. The purpose of a business is to create value. The ability to innovate products is the foundation of whether a company can create value and is an important indicator for a company to build competitive advantages. A mechanism for continuous innovation in new products is a prerequisite for a company to maintain its dynamic competitive advantage. The integrated product development (IPD) model is being adopted by an increasing number of leading companies in various industries. Establishing cooperative development based on the IPD model is essential for maintaining continuous innovation and improving market competitiveness. As the organizer of new product development and integration, the organization collaborates with members who develop and coordinate components in the IPD approach to achieve cooperative innovation. This helps the organization iterate products quickly in a "more, faster, better, cheaper" manner, increase product gross profit margin, and enhance the organization's competitiveness.

This study is based on the following issues in integrated product development:
Firstly, whether there is opportunistic behavior among the member parties in integrated product development, and if so, what are the opportunistic behaviors? Do they have any impact on the gross profit margin of new products? Secondly, the internal capability mechanism - whether the organization's enhancement on the depth and breadth of knowledge can affect the opportunistic behavior of the member parties? Does it have an impact on the gross profit margin of new products? What kind of impact is it? Thirdly, the external capability mechanism - third-party supervision, whether it can affect the opportunistic behavior of the member parties? Does it have an impact on the gross profit margin of new products? What kind of impact is it? Fourthly, the competitive mechanism - bidding, whether it can affect the opportunistic behavior of the member parties? Does it have an impact on the gross profit margin of new products? What kind of impact is it? Fifthly, the reselection mechanism, whether it can affect the opportunistic behavior of the member parties? Does it have an impact on the gross profit margin of new products? What kind of impact is it? Sixthly, whether digitalization can be effective in the reselection process to suppress the opportunistic behavior of the member parties?

Based on the above issues, this study is grounded in Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) theory, combined with Principal-Agent Theory (PAT), Knowledge-Based Theory, and Digitalization theory. It takes the perspective of companies and focuses on integrated product development. The study observes and investigates opportunistic behaviors and phenomena of member parties in integrated product development cooperation. Drawing on previous literature, the concept of governance mechanisms is introduced. The organization parties can establish an innovative governance mechanism by 1. Internal capability mechanism, enhances the organization's procurement team's depth and breadth of knowledge; 2. The external capability mechanism, third-party supervision is introduced; through this governance mechanism, opportunistic behavior of member parties is suppressed to improve the organization's gross profit margin of new products; 3. Based on Principal-Agent Theory, uses bidding competition mechanisms to address adverse selection issues and reselection mechanisms to improve moral hazard problems through incentives; In addition, digitalization is proposed as a means to incentivize and eliminate information asymmetry, to minimize moral hazard to the greatest extent.

Building on this foundation, hypotheses are proposed and a structural equation model is constructed with nine variables: 1. organization's gross profit margin of new products, 2. member's omission, 3. member's commission, 4. organization's breadth of knowledge, 5. organization's depth of knowledge, 6. third-party supervision, 7. bidding competition mechanism, 8. reselection mechanism, and 9. digital empowerment. In the empirical research section, data collection is conducted through field surveys and questionnaires, and SPSS is used for statistical analysis to validate the relationships between variables in the theoretical model.

The main conclusions of this study are as follows:
Firstly, opportunism is inherent in human nature, and at least some individuals have a tendency towards opportunistic behavior. In the process of integrated product development cooperation, opportunistic behavior of the member parties can lead to a decrease in the organization's gross profit margin of new products. The practical implication is that organizations should adopt reasonable governance mechanisms to curb opportunistic behavior of member parties when implementing integrated product development cooperation.

Secondly, organizations can reduce the opportunistic behavior of member parties to a certain extent by implementing governance mechanisms such as enhancing own breadth of knowledge and third-party supervision. The practical implication is that companies should suppress the opportunistic behavior of member parties in integrated product development by improving their internal capabilities and leveraging external capabilities such as third-party supervision.

Thirdly, this study particularly proposes an innovative governance mechanism for organizations to deal with opportunism among member parties in integrated product development: using bidding competition mechanisms to address the "adverse selection" problem, adopting reselection mechanisms as incentive mechanisms to improve moral hazard, and using digital mechanisms as incentive mechanisms to simultaneously eliminate information asymmetry and improve moral hazard.

The reselection governance mechanism with digital empowerment has a significant promoting effect on curbing opportunism.

The practical significance of this study lies in:
Firstly, at the strategic level of the company, by clarifying the mechanism and essence of opportunism among member parties in integrated product development cooperation, the company can design governance mechanisms that can suppress opportunism to the greatest extent, to enhance the company's product innovation capability, to improve company’s market dynamic competitive advantage, and to provide a new perspective of strategy.

Secondly, at the operational level of the company, this study helps companies that adopt the integrated product development operating model to deeply understand the serious harm of opportunistic behavior among member parties in integrated product development cooperation. This enables companies to formulate effective governance mechanisms according to their actual situations, minimize opportunistic behavior among member parties to the greatest extent, continuously develop innovative products, enhance the cost-effectiveness of new products, and achieve sustainable profitable development.

Date of Award	17 Jul 2024
Original language	Chinese (Traditional)
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Xu ZHENG (Supervisor) & Xiucheng FAN (External Supervisor)