New Product Development Projects Research Articles

Navigating challenges in new product development: Strategies for reducing failure rates in the medical device industry

New product development (NPD) in the medical device industry is critical for advancing healthcare technology and improving patient outcomes. Due to high usage of automated processes and applications in healthcare, the medical devices are not limited to products but have expanded to software as medical device. However, the failure rate of NPD projects in this sector remains high due to various challenges. This article explores the complex NPD process, which includes concept development, feasibility studies, design, and development, verification and validation, regulatory approval, and commercialization. Major reasons for project failures are identified, such as regulatory challenges, Change Management issues, market misalignment, communication failures, and insufficient risk management. Addressing these failure points requires a multifaceted approach. Regulatory pathways should be navigated with careful planning and compliance, and market needs must be thoroughly understood through comprehensive research. Resource allocation should be optimized to avoid constraints, and effective communication channels should be established to align all project participants. Finally, implementing rigorous risk management strategies, such as Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), can help mitigate potential risks early in the development process. By adopting these strategies, medical device companies can improve their NPD processes, reduce the failure rate of projects, and bring innovative and effective medical devices to market successfully.

Balanced or imbalanced, that is the question: The effect of R&D/marketing power structure on new product development time

Accelerating new product development (NPD) to gain a first-mover advantage is crucial in today's competitive business landscape. This paper aims to examine the effective power structure in NPD projects through the lens of two divergent theoretical perspectives: Information Processing Theory (IPT) and Resource Dependence Theory (RDT). While IPT suggests the benefit of a balanced decision-making power among various subunits, RDT advocates for a concentrated decision power for faster consensus and efficiency. Our research specifically investigates whether a balanced or imbalanced R&D/marketing power structure is more conducive to accelerating NPD time. This focus stems from the recognition that the interplay between R&D and marketing is critical in shaping NPD outcomes, though we acknowledge the broader context of multifunctional collaboration in NPD, including aspects like manufacturing. The paper tests two competing hypotheses: one advocating a balanced R&D/marketing power structure as per IPT, and the other supporting a dominant R&D/marketing power structure in line with RDT. We surveyed project leaders, R&D, and marketing personnel from 126 NPD projects across 87 Taiwanese firms. The empirical results significantly endorse the balanced R&D/marketing power structure hypothesis, suggesting that a harmonious collaboration between these two key subunits can expedite NPD processes. Our findings contribute to both academic research and managerial practice by offering nuanced insights into optimizing power structures within NPD teams, particularly highlighting the efficacy of a balanced R&D/marketing approach in the context of the prevalent theories.

How to prevent ruining new product development projects with suppliers? A failure factors’ perspective

To efficiently implement Early Supplier Involvement (ESI) in New Product Development (NPD), literature examined the contribution of its success factors to NPD project performance. However, prior studies overlooked the compromising effects of ESI failure factors that should also be carefully managed to foster project performance. Following an in-depth literature review, we identify 16 failure factors and position them according to the collaboration phases, namely relationship design and day-to-day interactions. Then, based on data collected from a survey with 80 practitioners, we use Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) to determine the degrees of risk criticality for each factor with respect to different thresholds of NPD project performance in terms of cost, quality, time and innovation. As such, we unveil the failure factors most detrimental to the project success, and provide practitioners with guidance to mitigate the ESI failure factors according to the performance criteria they prioritize the most and the performance levels they target.

The Impact of Temporal Reflexivity on Time Performance in NPD Projects: A Mixed-Methods Study

Timely new product development (NPD) has always been a top priority in NPD projects. Despite realizing its importance, the empirical examination of specific factors that may improve NPD time performance has remained limited. This study investigated how temporal reflexivity influences NPD time performance based on the time, interaction, and performance (TIP) theory. Using a mixed-methods design, our research findings showed that temporal reflexivity significantly and positively influenced temporal coordination. Contrary to our hypothesis, the temporal coordination was insignificantly related to the NPD time performance. Furthermore, temporal leadership significantly and positively moderated the relationship between temporal reflexivity and temporal coordination.

Coordination Resistance in Cross-Functional NPD Projects: The Moderating Role of Temporal Leadership

Coordination cost is a critical management issue in cross-functional automotive new product development (NPD) projects, especially in complex environments. However, the literature has neglected to analyze the specific mechanisms by which coordination costs due to complexity may be reduced. This article examines whether and how two dimensions of temporal leadership reduce the coordination cost caused by complexity. In particular, we argue that two dimensions of temporal leadership, namely relationship-oriented and task-oriented temporal leadership, mitigate the effects of complexity on NPD coordination cost through coordination resistance. Based on survey data from 196 automotive NPD project managers, results show that coordination resistance significantly mediates the relationship between complexity and coordination costs. Relationship- and task-oriented temporal leadership also moderate the relationship between different kinds of project complexity and coordination resistance. When the level of relationship-oriented temporal leadership is high, the effect of organizational complexity on coordination resistance weakens. Contrary to our hypotheses, the effect of technological complexity on coordination resistance is stronger when the level of task-oriented temporal leadership is high, suggesting that the project manager should consider different dimensions of temporal leadership when faced with different complexities.

Different forms of supplier involvement, knowledge orchestration capability, technological uncertainty and new product development performance: a test of three-way interaction

PurposeThis paper examines the role of purchasing in facilitating early supplier involvement in new product development (NPD) in contexts of technological uncertainty (TU). Taking a purchasing perspective, it develops a moderate model to explain the effects of supplier involvement on NPD performance and whether and how knowledge orchestration capability (KOC) and TU affect these relationships. Additionally, KOC drivers are defined.Design/methodology/approachA total of 317 usable questionnaires from Chinese high-technology firms were collected. Moderated multiple regression (MMR) was used to test all hypotheses. Resource orchestration theory (ROT) was the adopted theoretical lens.FindingsTwo forms of supplier involvement (as knowledge source and co-creator) were found to distinctly affect NPD performance and have potential substitutive relationships. Purchasing KOC positively moderates the relationships between forms of supplier involvement on NPD performance. TU strengthens the moderating role of purchasing KOC. Furthermore, purchasing status and supply complexity are important antecedents for purchasing KOC.Practical implicationsThese findings serve as a blueprint for involving purchasing in technologically uncertain NPD projects and improve supplier NPD integration. Additionally, management should recognize the purchasing function's role and empower it to identify ideas, knowledge and solutions within supply networks.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the ROT by examining the role of purchasing KOC on supplier involvement in NPD performance, especially under TU. Moreover, it demonstrates significant and positive relations between purchasing department status and external supply complexity on its KOC.

Enhancing Strategic Planning of Projects: Selecting the Right Product Development Methodology

The selection of an appropriate development methodology is a critical strategic decision when managing a New Product Development (NPD) project. However, accurately estimating project duration based on the chosen methodology remains a challenge. This paper addresses the limitations of existing models and proposes a novel NPD project model that allows for testing and evaluation of different product development strategies. The model considers Waterfall, Spiral, Agile, and Hybrid methodologies and provides system engineers and project managers with decision-making tools to determine the optimal strategy and understand associated tradeoffs. The model is validated using real projects from various organizations and methodologies. It incorporates stochastic variables, risk management, and dynamic resource allocation, while addressing both Waterfall and Agile methodologies. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by offering practical tools for system engineers and project managers for choosing development methodology, improving project duration estimation, and identifying critical processes and risks in NPD projects. The research results also provide a basis for further studies and can benefit researchers interested in systems engineering methodologies. The proposed model fills a gap in the literature by providing a validated NPD model to evaluate the impact of different product development methodologies on project duration.

An exploratory investigation of performance criteria in managing and controlling new product development projects: Canadian SMEs' perspectives

PurposeThis paper aims to understand and document evaluation criteria used in the new product development (NPD) process of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to support the management and control of their NPD projects.Design/methodology/approachThis study combines exploratory and explanatory methodology (case studies) involving five Canadian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are successful in NPD. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with nine selected managers and project managers to explore the process and evaluation criteria used to manage and control NPD projects.FindingsThe results highlight that cost, time and quality are key evaluation criteria used by SMEs to make decisions relative to the NPD project's success. Profitability, return on investment, expected sales and customer satisfaction are additional criteria used to evaluate NPD project's success. It has been also found that the SMEs did not consider sustainability issues in the criteria used as their focus are on the needs of stakeholders, mainly customers.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations: The evaluation criteria are extracted from a limited number of SMEs that have successfully carried out NPD projects and may therefore be influenced by some contextual factors. The results cannot be generalized to all SMEs or to all projects, as their characteristics may differ. Implications: This study offers a novel outlook on NPD process in SMEs, by documenting criteria related to constraints in project management. The integration of theory of constraints contributes to increasing theoretical knowledge about the management and control of NPD projects in SMEs. It provides insight into how project managers (and other decision makers) can increase the chances of project success by managing project constraints and criteria.Practical implicationsThe evaluation criteria identified in this study can therefore be of use to SMEs managers and project leaders seeking to improve the management and control of their NPD projects. These criteria can help them better manage their limited resources and skills and allocate them to the most promising projects. They can also help them conduct their NPD process more efficiently to achieve the intended objectives, including the desired project profitability targets.Originality/valueThis paper offers new insight and practical implications about evaluation criteria within the stages and activities of the NPD process that needed to be considered by SMEs' managers involved in NPD projects.

Exploring the pathways of learning from project failure and success in new product development teams

In today's business environment, New Product Development (NPD) teams play a pivotal role in propelling innovation. Within NPD teams, both successful and failed projects contribute in enhancing learning processes, yet the epistemological pathways activated by successful projects differ distinctly from those stimulated by failed projects. In this study, we investigate the pathways towards team learning in the context of successful and failed NPD projects using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). Drawing from the team learning literature, we examine which configurations of project characteristics (complexity and uncertainty), interpersonal team characteristics (innovation norms, cohesion, and decision-making autonomy), and environmental characteristics (technological and market turbulence) lead to NPD team learning. Our analysis identifies three configurations of factors tied to NPD team learning in successful projects and four configurations in failed projects. In successful projects, project and team characteristics are core in enhancing team learning. In failed projects, together with team characteristics, core conditions are represented by project complexity, uncertainty, while environmental characteristics play a dual role.

The effect of NPD complexity on NPD performance via inter-organizational collaboration and conflict

PurposeThis study develops a conceptualization of NPD (new product development) complexity and explores how inter-organizational collaboration and conflict influence NPD performance.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical examination tests the proposed relationships in the context of Korean manufacturing firms, which currently engage in NPD projects with their key partners. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings suggest that a higher level of NPD complexity simultaneously calls for inter-organizational collaboration and conflict, and these two factors influence NPD performance in a conflicting manner: inter-organizational collaboration serves as a driver, and inter-organizational conflict acts as a barrier against NPD performance.Originality/valueThis study provides answers to the academic and practical calls by providing how NPD complexity should be managed in a way to increase NPD performance. This study provides insight into how manufacturing firms form inter-organizational collaboration practices and why they need to mitigate inter-organizational conflict.

To learn or not to learn from new product development project failure: The roles of failure experience and error orientation

New product development (NPD) project leaders' learning varies after experiencing project failure, as not all failure experience equally promotes learning and not all project leaders equally learn from failure. Drawing on the sensemaking and error management perspectives, this study focuses on two research questions: to what extent does project failure experience (i.e., the percentage of project failures in the overall project portfolio managed by a project leader and the time elapsed since last project failure) affect NPD project leaders' learning from failure? To what extent does a project leader's error orientation (i.e., error competence and error strain) moderate the effect of project failure experience on NPD project leaders' learning from failure? Based on survey responses collected at two distinct time points from 237 NPD project leaders in high-tech ventures, our results show that the percentage of project failures negatively affects learning from failure, and their negative relationship is weakened as error competence increases. In contrast, the time since project failure positively affects learning from failure, and their positive relationship is weakened as error strain increases. Our findings emphasize that a simplistic approach to learning from failure fails to uncover the transformative mechanisms involved in turning failure into learning in the NPD process. Instead, we suggest a customized approach to comprehending how project leaders can capitalize on project failure considering their failure experience and error orientation to learn from NPD project failure.

Supplier involvement in NPD projects: the buyer's perspective on the complementary roles of social capital and social exchange for project performance

PurposeBuying firms involve suppliers early in New Product Development (NPD) projects to benefit from their capabilities. The authors investigate the joint impact on project performance improvement, of the social capital established throughout the project, and the strategic preferred buyer/supplier statuses awarded prior to the project, from the buyer's perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe authors propose a conceptual model underlining the complementary contribution to project performance of social capital dimensions and of preferred partners' statuses resulting from social exchange expectations. The model is analyzed with Partial Least Squares using 80 responses of purchasers and R&D managers involved in collaborative NPD projects with suppliers.FindingsThe relational capital built during the project has a positive central role, with a direct impact on NPD project performance and mediating effects through cognitive and structural capitals. The preferred partners' statuses have strong direct impacts on performance, and mediating effects that do not completely supplant the social capital's contribution.Practical implicationsThe implications for the efficient management of supplier involvement are twofold. First, the authors encourage strategic investments of buying firms to acquire preferred buyer's status and to support preferred supplier programs. Second, the authors alert them on the importance of establishing trust and shared cognition during the project.Originality/valueThis study captures NPD project performance from the social angle of buyer–supplier relationship management. It demonstrates the complementarity of relationship management at the strategic and operational levels, before and during the project unfolding.

New product development project management: Insights and research tendency from a bibliometric-based literature review

The research in relation to new product development (NPD) project management has been very rich in the past decade. However, there has been a lack of quantitative literature reviews investigating the status and evolution of research. In this study, we aimed to fill this gap by reviewing the NPD project management literature in the SCI-E and SSCI databases from 2012 to 2021 using the bibliometric method and the CiteSpace tool. First, we provided an overview of publications and identified several leading journals. Second, based on a keyword co-occurrence network, we identified five important research themes in NPD project management: optimization and simulation, knowledge management, product innovation, performance and success factors, and development strategy and firm strategy. Furthermore, we reviewed the important literature relating to each theme. Third, we analyzed the evolution of the NPD project management literature, as well as identifying research hotpots in the last 10 years, by creating a keyword time zone network. Finally, we proposed future trends in NPD project management research to fill the existing gaps.

Opening up early or late? The effect of open innovation before and after product launch on new product market performance

Despite a growing literature on open innovation in new product development (NPD), little is known about when openness is most beneficial during the innovation process. This study investigates the effectiveness of opening up NPD projects early or late, or before or after product launch, leading to four intertemporal NPD strategies: closed-closed, closed-open, open-closed, and open-open. Utilizing novel data of product innovation and market performance of 536 digital games, the authors study the effects of intertemporal NPD strategies on new product market performance under moderating effects of technological capability, marketing capability, and project complexity. The results indicate that the early open (open-closed) NPD strategy outperforms the late open (closed-open) strategy. Furthermore, the positive effect of open NPD strategies is stronger when technological capability is high, but weaker when marketing capability is high and when projects are complex. This study contributes to the literature by proposing a typology of NPD strategies that conceptualizes open innovation before and after product launch, and by demonstrating that NPD benefits from early openness, although firms decide to close the NPD project after launch. Managerially, this study offers empirical evidence that open NPD strategies with a consideration of project contingencies are important predictors of new product success.

Open innovation and de-escalation of commitment in underperforming new product development projects

Escalation of commitment occurs when managers continue to devote efforts to underperforming new product development (NPD) projects, even though doing so carries a high risk of failure. This study investigates the role of open innovation as a de-escalation strategy to reduce managers' commitment to underperforming NPD projects. Two studies involving both qualitative and quantitative approaches were conducted. We began our investigation by interviewing 13 senior managers to provide an initial understanding of open innovation vis-à-vis the escalation of commitment phenomenon. A scenario-based experiment with a sample of 97 senior NPD managers from multiple international companies was further conducted to test the relationship between open innovation and NPD managers' escalation of commitment, as well as the mediation effect of managerial efficacy. We contribute to the field by proposing open innovation as a new de-escalation strategy, and by revealing the affect-based mechanism of open innovation that operates through managerial efficacy.

Understanding the effect of boundary spanning activities on team identification in new product development teams

Despite the relevance of team boundary spanning in new product development (NPD), there is great deal we still do not know about these activities. For example, little is known about how these activities affect the development of team identification, an important emergent state with critical implications for new product performance. This study extends our understanding of this topic by exploring the relationship between team boundary spanning and team identification. This relationship is examined via the intervening mechanisms of team potency and team boundedness and the moderating effect of intra-team communication. Data from a time-lagged survey study of 140 NPD projects revealed that team potency and team boundedness, respectively, positively and negatively mediate the relationship between team boundary spanning and team identification. Intra-team communication was found to reduce the negative effect of team boundary spanning on team boundedness.JEL CLASSIFICATION 031, 032, 036

Risk Analysis: Changing the Story with the Statistical Stochastic Process and VaR

With the dramatically increased demand for data analysis, statistical techniques play a key role in modern society for both academics and practitioners. Statistical techniques have been evolving from descriptive statistics to statistical inference in fields that require the evaluation of uncertainty and the quantification of risks. With the growing complexity of various fields, such as manufacturing and industrial applications, as well as business decision-making, modeling and quantifying risks has become essential. In this paper, we aimed to use statistical risk analysis and Value at Risk (VaR) to address the decision problem for project portfolios. Traditional economic evaluation criteria used in the management of project portfolios, as they pertain to new product development (NPD), are based on the assumption that pinpoint estimations will remain constant in the future. The assumption that NPD is static, however, is clearly unrealistic due to the inherent uncertainty of NPD projects. In this study, we stress the critical role that uncertainty plays in the selection of NPD portfolios, and clarify the reasons why it must not be overlooked. Using Value at Risk measurements, we show how uncertainty plays a critical role in evaluating and prioritizing NPD portfolios. The implications of this study regarding statistically modeling NPD portfolio decisions are provided for academics and practitioners.

Dynamic Portfolio Management for New Product Development

Overview: Effective portfolio management is vital to maximizing the value of the business’ new product development (NPD) portfolio; it is also one of the weakest facets of NPD. Ongoing evaluation tends to be backward looking and process focused, and business cases are not updated with real time and more reliable data. A dynamic portfolio management approach is one solution, including the use of the Productivity Index (PI). Building in multiple iterations to get updated and robust data improves estimates of financial value and the PI. And since the value of a project depends on many factors, we present a multidimensional Value Based Scorecard that we developed using proven, research-based criteria, that companies can use to select and prioritize NPD projects effectively.

AHP-FMEA-DA multi-criteria method for NPD project launch analysis

Nowadays, new product development (NPD) process, demands the shortest development cycle-time to introduce new products into global markets, likewise, NPD helps firms to offer better products for their consumers, for this reason, different tools and methods are used to assure product launched on time without failures, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is a useful tool in risk analysis and multicriteria decision making (MCDM). However, NPD requires an accurate risk assessment to assign the resources and optimise them during the process. This document aims to introduce a modified FMEA method used in combination with Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) and Dimensional Analysis (DA), offering an accurate risk assessment. The AHPFMEA-DA method intends to help Engineers and NPD Project Managers handling risks identified, besides, to make better decisions to allocate the resources available wisely. Additionally, this document contains a practical example of an NPD project to validate the proposed method.

Transfer-Learning-Based Opinion Mining for New-Product Portfolio Configuration over the Case-Based Reasoning Cycle

Due to the ever-changing business environment, enterprises are facing unprecedented challenges in their new-product development (NPD) processes, while the success and survival of NPD projects have become increasingly challenging in recent years. Thus, most enterprises are eager to revamp existing NPD processes so as to enhance the likelihood of new products succeeding in the market. In addition to the determination of sustainable new-product ideas and designs, new-product portfolio management (NPPM) is an active research area for allocating adequate resources to boost project development, while projects that perform poorly can be terminated. Since the existing new-product portfolio configuration is manually decided, this study explores the possibility of standardising NPPM, particularly the configuration mechanism, in a systematic manner. Subsequently, case-based reasoning can be applied to structure the entire NPPM process, in which past knowledge and successful cases can be used to configure new projects. Furthermore, customer feedback was analyzed using the transfer-learning-based text classification model in the case-retrieval process to balance the values of enterprises and customers. A new-product portfolio was therefore configured to facilitate NPPM under an agile–stage-gate model. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed system, a case study in a printer manufacturing company was conducted, where positive feedback and performances were found.