Joint-design of products and supply chain in a context of innovation

Designing an innovative product that will be well adapted to the context of the company is a key success factor. In particular, the supply chain composed of suppliers (upstream) and all stakeholders up to the final customers (downstream) has to be adapted to the emerging product and all their technological new aspects. Within the scientific literature, product innovation and supply chain are generally considered in terms of a causal vision. This vision seems too limited to consider all the variables impacting the technical design of the product and the organization of the supply chain, especially when considering the first phases of the New Product Development Process. To describe the interrelations that take place between design decisions and external requirements all along the new product development process the product and its supply chain are defined as a couple. Based on the notions of dialogue and recursiveness, product design and supply chain design are considered as two complementary activities within the innovation process to increase the product's chances of success on the market. A managerial approach is proposed which integrates the joint-design of the product/supply chain couple in companies.