Evaluation of the Agile Manifesto within Business Strategies

Abstract

Every institution, company or single person needs a guideline aligning specific actions, processes and assets to an overall target. Recent research shows that guidelines of enterprises within the manufacturing branch or more specific within the automotive industry are almost identical. But new and emerging competitors force the traditional industry to adapt its business strategy and especially to increase flexibility. The internal and external changes within the manufacturing environment support this trend. The lead times are constantly shrinking and an increasing variety in customer demands has to be handled via new platforms and models. In conclusion, enterprises within the automotive industry need to increase agility and flexibility in order to stay competitive.

Within IT-project management, agility has been a focus since the end of the 1990s. Beneath that the automotive industry has applied several principles on the core value chain, logistics and production. But on the highest strategic level of an enterprise these principles have not been analyzed yet. This research paper is evaluating case studies in order to derive core agile aspects as well as principles. Based on that business strategies within the automotive branch are broken down and compared with these principles.

The result is that most of the agile aspects are not yet considered on the highest strategic business levels although they could increase the performance of enterprises within the automotive branch. But they need to be adapted to the specific characteristics.