Thesis propositions

From EvolutionaryProductDevelopment

Evolutionary Product Development

1 Introduction 2 Product phases 3 Description of the product phases 4 Research questions 5 Study 1 - retrospective case survey 6 Product characteristics 7 Study 2 - ranking by experts 8 Testing of the theoretic model 9 Conclusions, discussion and recommendations References Thesis propositions

Propositions belonging to the thesis "Evolutionary Product Development"
by Arthur O. Eger, May 2007

1. The path dependency that plays an important role in almost all product development processes is part of the evolutionary product development model.

(this thesis)

2. The theory of product phases, although developed for consumer products that are produced in mass or in series, can be used for B to B (business to business) and immaterial products (services) as well.

(this thesis)

3. The theory of product phases has proven to be a useful tool to teach students to incorporate the history of a product - and with that the path dependency - into their design process when developing a new product.

(this thesis)

4. In practice it has been proven that the theory of product phases can be used as an acquisition tool.

(this thesis)

5. Justifiably it is, based on the WHOHO (Wet op het Hoger Onderwijs en Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Article 7.2), not allowed - with a few specified exceptions - to teach and examine Master courses in English.

(Dutch: Terecht is het op grond van de Wet op het Hoger Onderwijs en Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Artikel 7.2 niet toegestaan - enkele nader gespecificeerde gevallen uitgezonderd - het master-onderwijs en de master-examens uitsluitend in het Engels te geven.)

6. Teaching Master courses in English does not benefit the Dutch economy.

(Dutch: Het komt de Nederlandse economie niet ten goede dat het master-onderwijs in het Engels wordt gegeven.)

7. The statement of Nelson & Winter (1982, p. 36): "Variety tends to be at a maximum in the early stages of an industry's history, when major issues of technology and design remain unsolved" is disputable.

8. The growth of the number of courses in industrial design engineering benefits the Dutch economy.

9. An essential difference between evolutionary biology and evolutionary product development is that there is no room for 'intelligent design' with evolutionary biology, but this is not the case with evolutionary product development.

10a. A statement will be less credible if it is not supported by a reference.

10b. A statement will be much more credible if it is supported by a reference (Eger, 2007).

• Eger, A.O., (2007), Propositions, belonging tot the thesis Evolutionary Product Development, Lemma, Den Haag.
• Nelson, R.R. and Winter S.G., (1982), An evolutionary theory of economic change, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.).

These propositions are considered opposable and defendable and as such have been approved by the supervisors, Prof. dr. ir. J.A. Buijs and Prof. dr. J.W. Drukker