Extension of internationalisation models: drivers and processes for the globalisation of product development – a comparison of Danish and Chinese engineering firms

Abstract

This paper develops an extension to established production- and supply chain management focused internationalisation models. It applies explorative case studies in Danish and Chinese engineering firms to discover how the globalisation process of product development differs from Danish and Chinese perspectives. The paper uses internationalisation and global product development theory to explain similarities and differences in the approaches. Grounded in case study results, a new model for internationalisation is proposed. The new model expands the internationalisation process model to include steps of product development and collaborative distributed development beyond sourcing, sales and production elements. The paper then provides propositions for how to further develop the suggested model, and how western companies can learn from the Chinese approaches, and globalise their product development activities from the front end of the value chain rather than from the back-end.

Keywords:

• Global product development
• internationalisation
• outsourcing
• offshoring
• China

Acknowledgements

The Danish Industry Foundation (Industriens Fond) and the Europe China High Value Engineering Network (EC-HVEN) [grant number PIRSES-GA-2011-295130] supported this work. A special thanks and acknowledgement goes to Bjarke Damgaard Larsen, Miriam Martínez Izaga and Xuemeng Li (all from DTU) who conducted interviews in Company C, D and E in China. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions to improve the article.