Rapid Prototyping for Competitive Advantage

Chapter 3 - Purpose and Summary

• The purpose of this chapter is to help readers to understand the wide range of strategic issues that should be considered when addressing the application of rapid prototyping technologies.
• In addition the chapter aims to show how these technologies can enable new strategies, identifies the business objectives that can be affected by the use of rapid prototyping, and discusses the strategic imperative for organisational changes to accompany the implementation.
• A key point stressed in this chapter is the interrelationship between strategy and technology. It is not enough to select rapid prototyping technologies based on strategy. Strategies must also be formulated taking into account the new things that these technologies can enable. Failure to recognise this point and act on it is likely to lead to missed opportunities.
• The strategic issues addressed are: the strategic nature of the technologies; the technologies as enablers of new strategies; the impact of rapid prototyping on the achievement of business objectives; exploiting strategic benefits in the marketplace; strategic aspects of organisational and culture changes; and development of change competencies.