Managing requirements capture within a global telecommunications company

Abstract

Many firms engage in research activities with the purpose of finding information about the future state of technology, competition and the market. In parallel, companies absorb knowledge through a variety of social and political processes that also influence decision‐making. Such activities enhance understanding of a firm’s internal and external environment, so that it can develop and evaluate new product or service ideas more effectively. How firms manage this process is critical to define and prioritise new product development ideas – how organisations find the ‘right’ idea is critical to ensure future market success. This paper seeks to gain a better understanding of how the knowledge used to create new products and services is acquired, what organisational structures facilitate or impinge this process and how individuals and groups within organisations behave in the very early stages of new product development. An in‐depth case study of a global telecommunications company is presented and the management processes for a number of different projects in various divisions of the company are compared and discussed.