Class V

2003-2004

Class V completed their Capstone projects in November 2004. Below is a list of titles, authors, and advisors, followed by abstracts:

For a copy of a Capstone report, please e-mail christine.fisher@rit.edu and indicate project title, your organization, and the reason for your interest.

Current students should login.

Creating Competitive Advantage in Commodity Markets: The Implications of the 4th Stage of Basis of Competition and Product Modularity on the Product Development Process

Johanne M. Korrie, Giana M. Phelan, and Bob Boehner.

Clayton Christensen describes the evolution of markets in terms of a shifting basis of competition. Christensen defines "Basis of competition" as the primary criteria used by mainstream customers in making purchase decisions. Christensen observes that as markets mature the basis of competition shifts from product functionality to reliability, then to convenience and ultimately to price. We have observed that the fourth stage in the basis of competition is price plus product variety.

Organizational Culture And Quantitative Tools

Garthel D. Larkin, Mark Trzyzewski

The Research Team endeavored to study the question: Is there a linkage between Organizational Culture and the use of Quantitative Tools in New Product Development organizations? Clearly, practitioners of management science know the benefits of using such Quantitative Tools, but experimental evidence could not be found through a literature search. For this reason, the study was modeled to collect evidence that would connect aspects of Organizational Culture to persons that are capable users of Quantitative Tools. Two Survey methods were used to gather data for correlation analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used.

Examining the Implications of the Integral / Modular / Re-integral Hypothesis of Product Architecture: A Study of the Contemporary Camera, Automobile and Disk Drive Industries

Joseph Miska, James Nargi, and Mary Schlitzer

Generally, in the early stages of the evolution of a product and the supporting industry, products tend to be integral in design and architecture. Typically a single company or several working independently will develop a whole new product and bring it to market. The companies are often vertically integrated and the products are usually tightly integral in nature, meaning that the design and performance of one part of the product is very dependent on the design and performance of the rest of the product. It is also well accepted that, as products mature and evolve and as new players enter markets; technologies will disperse; products will develop modular architectures; outsourcing of components, modules, manufacturing or all three will become the norm; and product designs will tend to converge around a standard, modular architecture.