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Dear Doctoral Candidates, The Product Development and Management Association is calling for doctoral dissertation proposals to compete for funding grants. It seems to me several doctoral projects now under way might qualify. Best regards, Ken Friedman CFP: http://www.pdma.org/cfp.html Annual Doctoral Dissertation Proposal Competition - Call For Papers The Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) is calling for doctoral dissertation proposals to compete for funding grants. The winning proposal will a receive cash award of up to $2,500 and other benefits that are estimated to be worth an additional $2,500 (for a total value of approximately $5,000). Applicants may propose to perform dissertation research on any aspect of product/service innovation, development, commercialization or management. Submitted proposals are expected to result in a completed dissertation and must already be approved by the student's committee. The applicant should append a letter from his/her committee chair or department head confirming acceptance of the proposal. The PDMA fosters interaction between industry practitioners and academic researchers focusing on the innovation process and new product development and management. (In our terminology "product" refers to both physical goods and services.) The association is made up of persons of many different functional orientations, including marketing, engineering, R&D, development, planning, product management, manufacturing, and upper management, as well as innovation, new product, technology and strategy consulting. PDMA is sponsoring this dissertation competition to foster academic research on innovation and new product development. Research topics appropriate for entering this competition include, but are not limited to: * The process of new product development and innovation * Strategic decision making during product development * Product development strategy and innovation strategy * Measuring innovation or product development performance * Organizational structures for new product development or innovation * Cultures which foster and impede product development * Behaviors that influence effective interdepartmental boundary management * Best practice for promoting collaboration among departments * Management of product portfolios * Managing multiple projects * Global new product development and global new product teams Those wishing to submit a proposal must limit themselves to 20 double-spaced pages, including all references, tables, figures, questionnaires, references, etc. The proposal should specifically cover: All applicable hypotheses and/or models and how the proposal builds on past research efforts Your method(s) of investigation (e.g., data collection and analysis) Expected contributions to both the academic literature and industrial practice Expected timeline for the research project. Dissertation proposals that cross functional lines, involve multiple research disciplines, or make significant advancements in our knowledge or research methods are especially desirable. Proposals will be double-blind reviewed by persons from academia and industry. Reviewers will judge the proposals against the above criteria, as well as feasibility of completion in a timely manner as proposed. The grants from the Competition are intended to support the recipient's dissertation research. Thus, only those dissertations that will not be completed prior to the October 2002 annual PDMA Conference should be submitted to the Competition. The winner of the Competition will be required to present their proposed research at the annual International PDMA Conference in October 2002, in Orlando, FL with conference and travel expenses to be paid for by PDMA. The winner will receive a $2,000 check upon presenting his/her proposal. An additional $500 check will be awarded to the winner upon meeting three conditions: 1. Presentation of research results at a future annual International PDMA Conference (again, with fees and travel paid for by the PDMA) 2. Submission of a manuscript to be published in a working paper series by PDMA. The author may publish the working paper for refereed publication in the journal of his/her choice, including, but not limited to, the Journal of Product Innovation Management, PDMA's refereed journal. 3. Agreeing to acknowledge PDMA support in all articles resulting from this research. Winning this Competition will provide several benefits. The cash awards are independent of funding needs and university or department affiliation. In addition, by presenting the proposal and research at PDMA conferences, the student's work gets early exposure. These meetings also provide a forum for networking with both academics and practitioners who may elect to support your continuing research in some way. This may allow Competition winners to identify potential research sites for field-based research and solicit participation in the study. The PDMA will also help publicize the research results upon completion. At a minimum, we propose to distribute the required working paper to all interested PDMA members. Furthermore, the winner will receive a 2-year membership to the PDMA, including a subscription to the Journal of Product Innovation Management. Including travel costs to the annual conferences, we estimate that the total monetary benefits of winning the Competition are approximately $5,000. Applicants should include four (4) copies of the proposal. Include the author's name and the title of the proposal on the cover page. This is the only place that the author's name should appear. The first page of the proposal should include the proposal title and introduction but not the researcher's name. Proposals, along with a letter from the dissertation chair or department head, confirming acceptance of the proposal, must be received no later than May 1, 2002. Please send to: Professor Roger J. Calantone Chair - 2002 PDMA Dissertation Competition N370 Business Complex Michigan State University Eli BROAD College of Business East Lansing, MI 48824-1122 517-353-6381 Phone 517-432-1112 Fax [log in to unmask] After the winner of the Competition has been announced, we would like to publish the titles and names of each candidate who submitted a proposal to the Competition in PDMA's newsletter - Visions. This way we can keep our membership informed of research trends in the field of new product development. Submission to the Competition will be taken as agreement to have the author's name and proposal title published in Visions. 2002 Competition Schedule: May 1st - Deadline for proposal submission On or Before August 9th - Notification of results to applicants October 12th - 16th - PDMA International Conference.