Measurements of collaboration efforts in the new product development

The research efforts on collaboration have expanded greatly in the past decade. In spite of attention to questions of collaboration, no consensus has emerged on how to measure collaboration or even what constitutes collaboration. This paper uses data from a Portuguese design company to study the collaboration among the stakeholders during the development phase of a new product, using three scenarios. One with traditional information process established, a second with new information flow to promote collaboration and a third scenario with a collaborative IT tool to support the process. The study is performed based on email related project messages exchanged and individual questionnaires.