Target costing drives a product development strategy that focuses the design team on the ultimate customer and on the real opportunity in the market. Leading Japanese electronics and vehicle manufacturers have used target costing to their advantage, and companies are now introducing it in the United States, Germany, and elsewhere. Its rigorous cost-management technique helps prevent senior managers from launebing low-margin products that do not generate appropriate returns to the company, hut its greater value lies in its ability to bring the challenge of the marketplace back through the chain of production to product designers.