Book excerpt: In today's automotive industry, developing new products and systems is more important than ever before. Central to the creation of innovative products is technology development. However, managing technology development has often proven to be a difficult task for many American firms. This book provides instruction on how to make technology management more effective and efficient. It discusses several ways to leverage technology development to get more value with fewer resources. Alignment, globalization, centralization/decentralization, sourcing, co-development, technology intelligence, and intellectual property are all extensively covered. Advice is provided on how to ease implementation of these solutions, and several examples of the successes enjoyed by best-practice companies are detailed. Chapters cover: Global Trends in Automotive Systems Management of Technology Challenges in Automotive Technology Management Meeting Technology Management Challenges Best Practice Case Studies