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Product development projects need to be managed in a timely and efficient manner in the present competitive business environment. The authors of this work argue that the commonly used product development models do not fully meet this demand, and the decision-making process needs to be made explicit. This work mainly focuses on the product development process. Two companies were studied using case study research. The aim of the case study was to identify key factors affecting the decision-making process in product development. The type of collaboration used in these two companies was also investigated in order to identify the influence it had on the decision-making process of each. The two companies had different views of the decision-making process which were related to their level of development process knowledge. Common factors affecting the decision-making process in product development were divided into ten categories: (1) Handling of requirements, (2) Experience of projects, (3) Organizational aspects, (4) Project management, (5) Top management, (6) Knowledge, (7) Risk management, (8) Information systems, (9) Communication, and (10) Change management.

One challenge today for companies lies in finding the right approach to measuring and continuously improving the current state of a company’s product development process. The task of continuously improving the performance demands the successful management of information, communication, cooperation and decision-making in a context of uncertainty, which is a highly complex task in itself. To be able to manage a complex product development system in an appropriate way, the authors have identified three important interdependent aspects of product development. The aspects are decision-making, uncertainty and performance. These aspects form the foundation for the suggested model which is intended to be used by engineering design researchers.

Currently, there is little or no methodology or methods available to "process improvers" in product development which focus on decision-making fundamentals in order to improve the performance of decision-making within the product development process. In order to support product development process improvements, it is important to develop knowledge about how the collaborative decisionmaking process can be viewed holistically and include its relation to performance aspects. The objective of this research is to investigate what elements characterize a collaborative decisionmaking system and what enables the management of the system. The research investigates these two aspects through a literature review and a case study at a large Swedish company. A Rich Picture is developed in order to clarify the relationship between fundamental decision-making aspects, performance, the process levels, and the product development organization. The descriptive case study identifies what actors consider to affect collaborative decision-making and exposes the competencies needed in order to manage the collaborative decision-making process.