Overdesign e sviluppo del nuovo prodotto: un’indagine sul ruolo dei bias cognitivi nei processi decisionali dei progettisti
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s94.2014.04Keywords:
innovation, overdesign, cognitive bias, behavioral operations, surveyAbstract
Purpose of the paper: This paper deals with the problem of overdesign, i.e. the attitude of designers to develop products/services that exceed customers’ needs. Namely, the objective of the paper is twofold: 1) to check whether and to what extent cognitive biases drive overdesign; 2) to check whether some pricing policies and designers’ performance measurement systems can mitigate cognitive biases.
Methodology: A survey has been conducted among designers of design-based companies; 149 usable questionnaires have been collected.
Findings: A factor analysis has been carried out that has highlighted 3 dimensions of overdesign and 6 typologies of cognitive biases. Then, through a regression analysis it has been confirmed that cognitive biases drive the 3 dimensions of overdesign. Empirical evidence shows that the impact of pricing policies and performance measurement systems is rather weak.
Research limits: This paper suffers from the limits peculiar to survey-based studies. In particular, to confirm the evidence stemming from this paper, it could be worthwhile widening the sample and replicating this analysis in other industries.
Practical implications: This paper highlights the relevance of cognitive biases as drivers of overdesign and points out the necessity to conduct further analysis in order to understand how to “debias” the decision making process of the designers. In this regard, the effectiveness of specific pricing policies and performance measurement systems has been tested, but the outcomes only partially support this hypothesis.
Originality of the paper: This paper has analyzed a specific feature of the new product development process, i.e. overdesign, through a behavioral perspective, which is considered an innovative approach to the research in the field of innovation and operations management.
References
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LOVALLO D., CLARKE C., CAMERER C. (2012), “Robust analogizing and the outside view: two empirical tests of case-based decision making”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 33, n. 5, pp. 496-512.
LOVALLO D., SIBONY O. (2010), “The case for behavioral strategy”, McKinsey Quarterly, vol. 2, pp. 30-43.
MOENAERT R. K., ROBBEN H., ANTIOCO M., DE SCHAMPHELAERE V., ROKS E. (2010), “Strategic Innovation Decisions: What You Foresee Is Not What You Get”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 27, n. 6, pp. 840-855.
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NEELY A. (2005), “The evolution of performance measurement research: Developments in the last decade and a research agenda for the next”, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 25 n. 12, pp. 1264-1277.
NIXON, B. (1998), “Research and development performance measurement: a case study”. Management Accounting Research, vol.9, n. 3, pp. 329-355.
NOBLE C.H., KUMAR M. (2010), “Exploring the Appeal of Product design: A Grounded, Value-Based Model of Key design Elements and Relationships”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 27, n. 5, pp. 640-657.
NUNNALLY J.C. (1978), Psychometric theory (2nd ed.), McGraw-Hill, New York.
PATRICK V., HAGTVEDT H. (2011), “Aesthetic Incongruity Resolution”, Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 48, n. 2, pp. 393-402.
PERKS H., COOPER R., JONES C. (2005), “Characterizing the Role of design in New Product Development: An Empirically Derived Taxonomy”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 22, n. 2, pp. 111-127.
RAMDAS K., FISHER M., ULRICH K. (2003), “Managing Variety for Assembled Products: Modeling Component Systems Sharing”, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, vol. 5, n. 2, pp. 142.
RANDALL T., ULRICH K. (2001), “Product Variety, Supply Chain Structure, and Firm Performance: Analysis of the U.S. Bicycle Industry”, Management Science, vol. 47, n. 12, pp. 1588-1604.
RAVASI D., LOJACONO G. (2005), “Managing design and designers for strategic renewal”, Long range planning, vol. 38, n. 1, pp. 51-77.
REITZIG M., SORENSON O. (2013), “Biases in the selection stage of bottom-up strategy formulation”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 34, n. 7, pp. 782-799.
RONEN B., PASS S. (2008), Focused Operations Management: doing more with existing resources, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
SIMON H.A. (1957), Models of Man. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
STEVENS J. (1986), Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.
TALKE K., SALOMO S., WIERINGA J.E., LUTZ A. (2009), “What about design Newness? Investigating the Relevance of a Neglected Dimension of Product Innovativeness”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 26, n. 6, pp. 601-615.
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ASTEBRO T., JEFFREY S.A., ADOMDZA K. (2007), “Inventor Perseverance after Being Told to Quit: The Role of Cognitive Biases”, Journal of behavioral decision making, vol. 20, n. 3, pp. 253-272.
BLACKBURN J.D. (1991). Time-based competition: the next battleground in American manufacturing, Business One Irwin Homewood, Illinois.
BLOCH P.H. (1995), “Seeking the Ideal Form: Product design and Consumer Response”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 59, n. 3, pp. 16-19.
BOURNE M., NEELY A., PLATTS K., MILLS J. (2002), “The success and failure of performance measurement initiatives: Perceptions of participating managers”, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 22, n. 11, pp. 1288-1310.
COMAN A., RONEN B. (2009), “Icarus’ predicament: managing the pathologies of overspecification and overdesign”, International Journal of Project Management, vol. 28, n. 3, pp. 237-244.
COSTABILE M., CARIOLA A. (2011), “La misurazione delle performance dell’impresa che innova: aspetti definitori e verifiche empiriche”, Sinergie, n. 64-65, pp. 89-108.
DAVILA T. (2000), “An empirical study on the drivers of management control systems’ design in new product development”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, vol. 25, n. 4-5, pp. 383-409.
DI STEFANO P.P. (2006), “Tolerances analysis and cost evaluation for product life cycle”, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 44, n. 10, pp.1943-1961.
DROGE C., CALANTONE R., HARMANCIOGLU N. (2008), “New Product Success: Is It Really Controllable by Managers in Highly Turbulent Environments?”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 25, n. 3, pp. 272-296.
FORZA C. (2002), “Survey research in Operations Management: a process based perspective”, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, vol. 22, n. 2, pp. 152-194.
GABRIELSEN G., KRISTENSEN T., ZAICHKOWSKY J. (2010), “Whose design is it anyway?”, International Journal of Market Research, vol. 52, n. 1, pp. 89-110.
GIACCONE S.C., D’ALLURA G.M. (2011), “La risposta del mercato all’innovazione tecnologica”, Sinergie, n. 67, pp. 265-286.
GILOVICH T. (1990), “Differential construal and the false consensus effect”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 59, n. 4, pp. 623-634.
GINO F., PISANO G. (2008), “Toward a Theory of Behavioral Operations”, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, vol. 10, n. 4, pp. 676-691.
GRANDO A. (2002), “Profili emergenti nella domanda di servizi logistici. Evidenze empiriche e traiettorie evolutive”, Sinergie, n. 57, pp.3-28.
GRANDO A., VERONA G., VICARI S. (2010), Tecnologia Innovazione Operations, Egea, Milano.
HAGTVEDT H., PATRICK V. (2008), “Art Infusion: The Influence of Visual Art on the Perception and Evaluation of Consumer Products”, Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 45, n. 3, pp. 379-389.
HAIR J.F., BLACK W.C., BABIN B.J., ANDERSON R.E. (2006), Multivariate Data Analysis (6th ed.), Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
HERTENSTEIN J.H., PLATT M.B., VERYZER R.W. (2005), “The Impact of Industrial design Effectiveness on Corporate Financial Performance”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 22, n. 1, pp. 3-21.
HU L., BENTLER P.M. (1999), “Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives”, Structural Equation Modeling, vol. 6, n. 1, pp. 1-55.
JORGENSEN B., MESSNER M. (2010), “Accounting and strategising: A case study from new product development”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, vol. 35, n. 2, pp. 184-204.
KAHNEMAN D. (2011), Thinking, Fast and Slow, Farrar Straus Giraux, New York.
KAHNEMAN D., LOVALLO D., SIBONY O. (2011), “Before You Make That Big Decision”, Harvard Business Review, vol. 89, n. 6, pp. 50-60.
KAHNEMAN D., TVERSKY A. (1974), “Judgment under uncertainty: heuristics and biases”, Science, vol. 185, pp. 1124-1131.
KAHNEMAN D., TVERSKY A. (1979), “Prospect Theory: an analysis of decisions under risk”, Econometrica, vol. 47, n. 2, pp. 263-291.
KAHNEMAN D., TVERSKY A. (1981), “The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice”, Science, vol. 211, n. 4481, pp. 453-458.
KRISTENSEN T., GABRIELSEN G., ZAICHKOWSKY J. (2012), “How valuable is a well-crafted design and name brand?: Recognition and willingness to pay”, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, vol. 11, n. 1, pp. 44-55.
LOVALLO D., CLARKE C., CAMERER C. (2012), “Robust analogizing and the outside view: two empirical tests of case-based decision making”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 33, n. 5, pp. 496-512.
LOVALLO D., SIBONY O. (2010), “The case for behavioral strategy”, McKinsey Quarterly, vol. 2, pp. 30-43.
MOENAERT R. K., ROBBEN H., ANTIOCO M., DE SCHAMPHELAERE V., ROKS E. (2010), “Strategic Innovation Decisions: What You Foresee Is Not What You Get”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 27, n. 6, pp. 840-855.
MUIR C. (2007), “Knowing When to Quit: Do Optimism and Overconfidence Cloud Inventor Judgment?”, Academy Of Management Perspectives, vol. 21, n. 4, pp. 78-80.
NEELY A. (2005), “The evolution of performance measurement research: Developments in the last decade and a research agenda for the next”, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 25 n. 12, pp. 1264-1277.
NIXON, B. (1998), “Research and development performance measurement: a case study”. Management Accounting Research, vol.9, n. 3, pp. 329-355.
NOBLE C.H., KUMAR M. (2010), “Exploring the Appeal of Product design: A Grounded, Value-Based Model of Key design Elements and Relationships”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 27, n. 5, pp. 640-657.
NUNNALLY J.C. (1978), Psychometric theory (2nd ed.), McGraw-Hill, New York.
PATRICK V., HAGTVEDT H. (2011), “Aesthetic Incongruity Resolution”, Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 48, n. 2, pp. 393-402.
PERKS H., COOPER R., JONES C. (2005), “Characterizing the Role of design in New Product Development: An Empirically Derived Taxonomy”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 22, n. 2, pp. 111-127.
RAMDAS K., FISHER M., ULRICH K. (2003), “Managing Variety for Assembled Products: Modeling Component Systems Sharing”, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, vol. 5, n. 2, pp. 142.
RANDALL T., ULRICH K. (2001), “Product Variety, Supply Chain Structure, and Firm Performance: Analysis of the U.S. Bicycle Industry”, Management Science, vol. 47, n. 12, pp. 1588-1604.
RAVASI D., LOJACONO G. (2005), “Managing design and designers for strategic renewal”, Long range planning, vol. 38, n. 1, pp. 51-77.
REITZIG M., SORENSON O. (2013), “Biases in the selection stage of bottom-up strategy formulation”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 34, n. 7, pp. 782-799.
RONEN B., PASS S. (2008), Focused Operations Management: doing more with existing resources, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
SIMON H.A. (1957), Models of Man. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
STEVENS J. (1986), Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.
TALKE K., SALOMO S., WIERINGA J.E., LUTZ A. (2009), “What about design Newness? Investigating the Relevance of a Neglected Dimension of Product Innovativeness”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 26, n. 6, pp. 601-615.
TORRISI S. (2011), “Innovazione tecnologica, competenze e strategie competitive delle imprese. Il caso del software”, Sinergie, n. 64-65, pp. 301-329.
ULRICH K.T. (2010), Design. Creation of artifacts in society, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
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2018-10-28
