Tuotekehityksen aikana tehtävien päätösten vaikutukset toimitusketjuun

There is no previous research on how new product supply chain is formed as a result of new product development decisions. As a consequence, the purpose of this thesis is to examine the decision making related to a new product and its supply chain. The target is to clarify which decisions, made during the new product development project, are important from the view of supply chain management and how these decisions should be made in order to improve a company’s competitive performance in global markets. The main research question is formulated as follows: What supply chain decisions do companies make as part of their new product development project and how can these deci-sions affect companies’ performance in a global environment? The underlying perspective of the thesis is the alignment of new product development and supply chain management. The thesis is a preliminary study for potential wider research, and the focus is on Finnish manufacturing companies that operate in global markets. In order to reveal current practices in the companies, the study is conducted using multiple case study method. In total, three case companies were involved in the research. As a result of this thesis, a framework is provided to support the decision making during new product development projects. The framework clarifies which decisions should be made at which stage and how the decisions reflect to each other. The main finding of this thesis is that in order to achieve better alignment between new product and its sup-ply chain, the supply chain related issues should be taken into account already at the early stages of new product development project. It is suggested, that target setting dur-ing early stages should include also supply chain related issues instead of only focusing on new product specifications. Furthermore, supply chain strategy should guide the new product development project more explicitly, which could improve company’s performance in global environment