Factors Of New Product Development Research Articles

Interactions in new product development: How the nature of the NPD process influences interaction between teams and management

Effective interaction across organisational boundaries is a critical success factor in new product development (NPD). However, few studies have investigated how different mechanisms enable effective interaction across organisational and particularly hierarchical boundaries. This study explores how the formality of the NPD process influences the nature of interactions across different organisational boundaries and specifically identifies interaction mechanisms used across hierarchical boundaries. Cross-sectional interviews were conducted in nine firms. Findings highlight that in firms with a formalised NPD process, interactions tend to have a transactional/managerial bias. In contrast, in firms where the NPD process is flexible, interactions have a more social objective.

Key determinants of the successful adoption of new product development methods

PurposeIn recent years, scholars have devoted increasing attention to the use of methods in new product development. Although their positive impact on product success has been confirmed by a series of studies, little research has so far been conducted into the determinants of the successful method application. The purpose of this paper is to analyze two key determinants for the successful use of methods.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a structural equation modeling approach and analyzes the subject based on a large empirical sample of 410 product development projects.FindingsThe way the new product development process is formalized and the extent of top management support have a significant influence on the successful application of methods. Both factors lead to the use of more methods overall and drive the more thorough and intensive deployment of the specific methods used.Practical implicationsThe paper shows how firms that are seeking a more methodical approach to new product development can consciously create the right determinants for the successful adoption of methods and by doing that can increase the success rate of their new product development activities.Originality/valueThis research adds to the literature on success factors of new product development in two distinct ways. First, the paper investigates the subject at the level of specific product development projects, based on a large empirical sample and using a structural equation modeling approach, for the first time. Second, the methods investigated were chosen in a systematic, multi step process in which the methods used by several functions involved in new product development were taken into account.

Development of a Hybrid Life Cycle Cost Model for Estimating Product Design Alternatives in Cloud Computing Based Collaborative Design Environment

In a competitive and globalized business environment, the need for the sustainable product development becomes stronger. To meet these trends, the total cost during the product life cycle, called life cycle cost (LCC), should be considered as an important factor in new product development. In this paper, a hybrid life cycle cost model (HLCCM) is developed as a hybrid life cycle cost system (HLCCS) to estimate the cost performance of product design alternatives. It aims at improving the cost performance of products using genetic algorithms and artificial neural networks which consist of high-level product attributes and LCC results. The framework incorporated HLCCM is proposed in cloud computing based collaborative design environment and allows users to estimate the product data and other related information on a wide variety of application. This paper presents approximate LCC estimation of product design alternatives represented by solid models in cloud computing based collaborative design environment.

Critical success factors of new product development in technology based firms: A case study

In today’s advanced technological era, new products are emerging rapidly and market competition is increasing. It is important for Malaysian companies to invest more in research and development (R and D) and to develop their own design capabilities and innovative products. New product development (NPD) refers to the complete process of bringing a new product or service to the market. The quest has been going on for decades to find the answer why some businesses are so much more successful at NPD as compared to the rest. That leads to the main theme of this paper which is the critical success factors (CSFs) of NPD. This case study is based on a company in Malaysia to explore the CSFs of NPD in a technology-based company. A survey utilizing the means of interview and questionnaire were conducted to discover the factors that are important to the NPD success. The company’s strengths and weaknesses that affect NPD performance were also explored. Support with the interview results from the engineers, the role of top management is the most critical factor that leads to NPD success. As a result of the research, an adapted model of CSFs of NPD for the company was developed. Finally, the study provides discussion of the implications and recommendations for both researchers and managers in the area of NPD management.

Sales Department Integration in New Product Development and the Role of Innovativeness

Prior research has established that cross-functional integration is a key success factor in new product development. Proper implementation of integration between firm departments is crucial – parti...

Cross-functional Integration and New Product Performance — The Impact of National and Corporate Culture

Cross-functional integration (CFI) is regarded as a key success factor in new product development. Since most of the research in this area has been conducted in single-country environments, researchers have asked how CFI is affected by national culture and have pointed out the need to analyze the impact of other contingency factors, such as corporate culture. Following these calls for further research, we collected data from 619 companies in six countries with pronounced national cultural differences. Using hierarchical regression analysis, we found that the effects of CFI's dimensions (cross-functional interaction and collaboration) are stronger when the organization operates in a national culture with strong collectivism. This moderating effect is strengthened when the corporate culture of the organization is strong, suggesting an interaction effect between the two levels of the culture construct.

Social Competency and New Product Development Performance

Previous studies have fruitfully investigated the success factors of new product development. Most of these studies explored the phenomenon from the firm/team level. Little has been done from the perspective of how individuals within new product teams contribute to new product development (NPD) and its performance. Yet, any organizational output should be imputable to specific individuals, and understanding the various individuals' respective contributions is paramount to explaining the collective outcome. In this study, we explore the role of social competency of individual members of teams in the NPD process. Our results show that individuals within NPD teams having social competency are social architects who understand and can successfully manage the interaction between organizational and behavioral variables. We find that social competency is a reliable predictor of new product performance. Also, we find that learning is both a mediating and moderating variable, while technological competency and market knowledge are moderators of social competency in its relationship to NPD performance. The implication is that firms should take individual characteristic variables such as social competency into consideration when they develop and commercialize product innovations.

A Dynamic Planning Approach for New Product Development

This paper presents a quantifying and reordering method for new product development based on the concurrent engineering concept. We propose to establish a fuzzy design structure matrix (FDSM) by quantifying the information flow of activity factors of new product development and employing the fuzzy clustering method. Utilizing the proposed partition and tearing algorithm to reorder matrixes, we can realize deeply the inner hierarchy workings of concurrent engineering in the new product development process. The purpose of this paper is to develop a dynamic planning method that is innovative, efficient and flexible for new product development by using the concurrent design concept and FDSM analysis. It ultimately helpful to designers and managers to grasp the interactive information flow between each of the activity factors for planning an optimum design process in new product development. One case study is employed to illustrate this method and the result validates that it can reduce the iterations of design process and shorten the product development time.

Critical success factors of new product development in Taiwan's electronics industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore critical success factors of new product development in Taiwan's electronics industry which uses the approach of re‐innovation.Design/methodology/approachFocus group research was conducted. In total 71 participants from Taiwan's electronics industry were allocated into eight different groups ranging from minimum eight to maximum ten participants in a group.FindingsSuggested critical success factors of re‐innovation include time reduction in development process, cost reduction in product manufacture, products with high levels of customization, relative advantage, or added value, efficiently internal coordination and external cooperation, appropriate product introduction timing, and less aggressive competitors responses.Research limitations/implicationsA main limitation of this study is that the field data were all from Taiwanese‐based companies in certain industries. Generalization could be increased by collecting data from other countries and industries.Practical implicationsFirms using the approach of re‐innovation should take into account various characteristics of different innovation types so as to adjust their approaches of new product development.Originality/valueThe first contribution of this study is to provide information regarding the critical success factors of product re‐innovation in Taiwan's electronics industry. Second, the knowledge of new product development can be added because of an increase in the understanding of re‐innovation in the Asia‐Pacific region which has received much less attention than North America and Europe by innovation researchers.

Critical success factors for new product development in the Hong Kong toy industry

Hong Kong’s manufacturers have become some of the world’s most efficient toy producers, and are also the world’s biggest exporter of toys. However, the Hong Kong toy industry is mainly Original Engineering Manufacturing (OEM) and does not invest large amounts in R&D activities such as the development of new toy designs and the creation of new toys. With increasing competition from Mainland China and other Asian countries, it is important for Hong Kong companies to invest more in R&D and to develop their own design capabilities or more value-added edges which cannot be substituted easily by their competitors. Therefore, this research paper aims to explore the critical success factors (CSFs) for new product development (NPD) in the Hong Kong toy industry, and, novelly, examines both the project and functional levels. Using the Biblical Metaphor Model, this research identifies a group of critical success factors for each phase of NPD. Moreover, the research also reveals which factors have been implemented and which have not. The implications from this research, therefore, are rather obvious, and companies should be able to easily identify the areas in which improvement is needed in the future. Since the research is custom-designed for the Hong Kong toy industry, and previous research indicates that NPD is both country- and industry-specific, the specific results should not be applied to other industries in other countries. However, the actual research design and data analysis framework could be used to investigate the same problem in other industries.

Success Factors of New Product Development: A Review of the Empirical Literature

The continuous development and market introduction of new products can be an important determinant of sustained company performance. For approximately 30 years, conceptual and empirical research has been undertaken to identify the critical success factors of new products. This paper reviews the findings of empirical work into the success factors of new product development (NPD). It is the prime objective of this work to summarize the most important findings in a compact and structured way. In addition, shortcomings of previous empirical work on NPD success factors will be discussed and suggestions for improvement in future empirical NPD studies will be made.

Timingstrategien — Zeitoptimale Ausgestaltung von Produktentwicklungsbeginn und Markteintritt

Today one important success factor in new product development is time. This paper considers the timing of the limiting dates in new product development, namely beginning and end of the process. First, development process triggering and market launch of the product are discussed as individual timing problems. Then an integrated approach combining the two points of time is derived. The resulting combined timing strategies reveal new strategic options which should be considered when designing the new product development process.

Critical Success Factors for New Product Development

OVERVIEW:The success of a new product development effort hinges on 16 critical factors in five areas: 1) Senior management commitment, which is a key prerequisite for success; 2) Organizational structure and processes that support the venture; 3) Attractive new product concepts being available for development; 4) Venture teams with appropriate staffing and resources, able to communicate effectively with management and markets; 5) Project management able to focus on reducing uncertainties as early as possible. Attention to these factors during the early stages of new product development allows managers to save significant time and money while reducing delays and risks.

Organization for New-Product Development?

IN RECENT years a great deal of attention has been directed to newproduct development. The failure rate on new products is so high (four out of five) that management has been avidly searching for panaceas. One panacea frequently advanced is some kind of committee organization. This paper will argue that (1) organization is not a very important factor in new-product development and that (2), although organizational plans may facilitate successful product development, such plans will be fruitless unless accompanied by a dynamic innovating attitude on the part of both top management and the whole company organization.