One of the supposed changes made under Kalle was a sharp reduction in this timeframe. My understanding is that BV10 was brought to market in less than 12 months.
That being said, B&O's strength, to me, was being able to develop the tech to meet seemingly unrealistic or unnecessary characteristics of the designer. To this day the CD mech in the BeoSound 9000 is an amazing achievement that could very easily have been shot down in another corporate culture.
I think it's crucial that we have the ability to respond in a technical sense to the direction set forth by the CEO and designer. Just putting new tech in place may make things seem more current, but less revolutionary.
There is scarcely anything in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey. - John Ruskin