Is a focus on collaborative product development warranted from a cost commitment perspective?

Purpose – Supplier involvement in cost reduction efforts has been concentrated mainly in the product development phase of the life cycle of the product. Often this concentration on the early phases of the product life cycle is defended with referral to the 80/20 rule that says that 80 per cent of the manufacturing costs are determined or committed during product design and development. The purpose of this paper is to look for empirical evidence that supports this rule and discuss the limited literature on joint buyer/supplier cost reduction programmes beyond the product development stage of the product life cycle. Design/methodology/approach – An extensive literature survey on both the cost commitment rule and collaborative cost reduction programmes beyond the product development stage was conducted. Findings – It was found that empirical evidence in the literature for the 80/20 rule on cost commitment in product design is only anecdotal. Even more surprisingly, compared to the literature on cost reduction in design phases, the literature on cost reduction efforts in later stages of the product life cycle is rather limited and usually ignores possibilities for supplier/buyer collaboration. Research limitations/implications – Further empirical research (suggestions provided) should assess whether the identified lack of evidence is due to a gap in the empirical literature or to lower degrees of cost commitment and attention to cost efforts beyond product design indeed existing in practice. Practical implications – This paper calls practitioners to revisit the cost commitment rule and check its existence in their specific contexts. As a result of this exercise, practitioners may want to consider implementing some of the techniques reviewed in the paper that can assist in collaborative cost reduction beyond the product development stage. Originality/value – Given the amount of money involved, the general applicability of the cost reduction techniques to various industries and relationships with suppliers, the opportunities for huge savings and the fact that most firms usually have many products and/or technologies at maturity stage, my research makes an important contribution by identifying both a lack of empirical evidence in the literature on the notion that 80 per cent of the costs are committed in the design phase and the limited attention given in the literature to supplier/buyer cost reduction programmes in further stages of the product life cycle.