The Dynamics of Innovation: Strategic and Managerial Implications - Couverture rigide

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 3540656596 ISBN 13 : 9783540656593

Editeur : Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K, 1999

Synopsis

Jorg Bensinger, a group head of Audi corporation's R&D depart- ment, had been waiting for long to find a chance to advertise his idea of a four-wheel drive for passenger cars to one of the board mem- bers. Favorable experiences had been collected in drive tests with the lItis, a jeep-like car developed for use in the German army. The ex- periences showed extremely good performance on icy roads and in snow. Bensinger's chance came in February of 1977, when he could talk to Ferdinand Piech, then R&D vice president of Audi and a technology buff. At this time Audi wasn't quite considered as a tech- nological leader in the public. Technology based innovations were expected from Mercedes or Porsche by many customers. Piech, Ben- singer, and others sensed that introducing the four-wheel drive to passenger cars could initiate a strategic change. Under great secrecy development work and prototype construction were commissioned. One obstacle seemed to be space requirements for the gear-box. Hans Nedvidek, former race-track engineer in the Mercedes team, was assigned to the team, and he developed an ingenious solution to the problem. It took until September of 1977 until other board mem- bers were informed, and after some rallying the board found a con- sensus in the next month to authorize further development steps for a four-wheel drive car. However, Audi is a subsidiary of Volkswagen Corp. The accord of the much bigger mother had to be secured.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K
• Date d'édition: 1999
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 3540656596
• ISBN 13: 9783540656593
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 349
• Éditeur: Brockhoff Klaus, Chakrabarti Alok K., Hauschildt Jürgen
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible