These systems can be used to encourage employee s to make tradeoffs which are in the best interests of the firm. The formal model shows how the reliance placed on customer satisfaction is measured and the extent to which employees focus on the short term. Throughout the paper we interpret the formal results based on our experience with actual firms and the current literature. We close with a brief discussion of on-going research at two field sites. The Product Family and the Dynamics of Core Capability Marc H. Meyer and James M. Utterback.
Individual products are the offspring of product platforms that are enhanced over time.
Product families and their successive platforms are themselves the applied result of a firm's underlying core capabilities. In well-managed firms, such core capabilities tend to be of much longer duration and broader scope than single product families or individual products. The authors recommend a longer run focus on enhancing core capabilities, which includes identifying what they are and how they are applied and synthesized in new products. This paper surveys recent research on the concept of a dominant product design. The point of departure for the survey is the idea that dominant designs occur which shift the terms of competition in an industry.