Improvisational Intensive Problem-Solving Capability: The Case of Hyundai Motor’s New Car Projects

초록

This paper attempts to explore how Korean companies have been able to build organizational capabilities over the course of rapid growth, using Hyundai Motor’s new car projects as a case study. Hyundai has compensated for a lack of capability in the product design phase by improving the pilot production stage. Key to this is an intensive problemsolving capability that revolves around a pilot center established in 2003. Through the centralized pilot center, Hyundai has strengthened its ability to solve problems based on vertical information processing in the pre-production phase. With pressure to solve problems within a set period of time, engineers participate in problem-solving. Intuitive judgment is more important than routine skill when it comes to troubleshooting. This process of developing new cars, which includes elements of improvisation, illustrates that Hyundai's organizational capability has been shaped in a non-cumulative fashion rather than a step-by-step method of routine cumulative evolution.

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