Laschka, MaximilianMaximilianLaschka2023-04-132023-04-132021https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/111136The development of new products is one of the most critical factors to stay competitive for companies. To serve the heterogeneous needs of customers optimally, firms typically offer a product line including various configurations of a product rather than a single product. It is important to design a product line simultaneously meeting both financial requirements and customer expectations. From the perspective of financial management, the main aim of the early phase of product development is to align all project members to the target of the financial result as a superordinate corporate goal. Existing publications on target costing and product optimization from the field of Operations Research offer approaches combining the financial target management with the target setting for product attributes in the early development phase. Assessing these methods in more detail reveals some shortcomings regarding its applicability to product lines and behavioral aspects to align the stakeholders involved to the financial goals. The present thesis takes on these missing aspects by integrating theory-based elements regarding content and methodology into a new concept. The new methodology enables a scenario-based target setting of financial result and product attributes for product lines. In addition, the present work operationalizes the developed concept in terms of a procedure model. The case study from the automotive sector validates the applicability of the theory-based concept in practice. Findings verify that the team members develop a common understanding for the targets of financial result and product attributes of a product line. Consequently, the method ensures meeting these common goals. Based on the conducted case study, a cost-benefit ratio and success factors for further applications in practice are derived. As a result, this doctoral thesis provides a theory-based concept for the financial management of product lines with a successful real-life application. The new methodology integrates the scenario planning into target costing. In addition, the present work contributes to the stream of Behavioral Management Accounting by using the shared mental model theory as theoretical framework.deZielkostenrechnungProduktentwicklungVerhaltenssteuerungSzenarioFahrzeugindustrieEDIS-5058doctoral thesis