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.
Although the returns of customer participation on new product development (NPD) performance can vary substantially, the current literature lacks a systematic conceptual and empirical integration ...showing when customer participation is valuable in enhancing NPD performance. Building on knowledge management theory, the authors present a conceptual framework that synthesizes a variety of contingency factors. A meta-analysis empirically examines the moderating effects of contextual factors between customer participation and NPD performance. The analysis reveals that involving customers in the ideation and launch stages of NPD improves new product financial performance directly as well as indirectly through acceleration of time to market, whereas customer participation in the development phase slows down time to market, deteriorating new product financial performance. Furthermore, the benefits of customer participation on NPD performance are greater in technologically turbulent NPD projects, in emerging countries, in low-tech industries, for business customers, and for small firms. The authors discuss several theoretical and managerial implications about when to engage customers in the innovation process.
The Pandemic taught us that accelerated new‐product development is more important than ever, and provided examples of firms developing breakthrough products in record time. Five approaches to ...accelerated development are outlined here: The first two deal with adequately resourcing new‐product projects, namely the use of focused teams; and effective portfolio management to prioritize projects and reallocate resources. Newer digital tools are outlined that speed new‐products developments. Finally, two development methods are described that move development projects faster: Lean development and Agile development. Accelerated development also has hidden costs: undertaking less innovative projects and cutting too many corners. Although important, the topic is under‐researched, and the limited research has yielded inconclusive results about acceleration's expected benefits.
Research on new product development (NPD) has grown considerably over the last 30 years interweaving with serval fields of study such as strategy, marketing, supply chain management, and project ...management. This article offers an overview of the development of the NPD management literature published over the last ten years (2008 to 2018) in 1226 peer-reviewed articles. By applying bibliometric analysis, we have discovered the existence of five research clusters focused on the following main thematic areas: the NPD process, the integration of diverse knowledge sources for NPD optimization, the relationship between NPD and corporate strategy, the role of users and consumers in the NPD process, and the supplier involvement in the NPD activities. In respect of each area, we selected and reviewed the most relevant contributions and presented the emerging theoretical approaches and best practices. Also, the analysis has helped us to uncover the existence of promising research areas that have been scarcely explored. As a result, we formulated some suggestions for further research to fill in the existing gaps.
New product development projects enhance the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises but carry a high risk of failure. Monitoring the progress of these projects’ activities, using specific ...performance indicators, helps to reduce this risk. However, studies in small and medium enterprises are limited and they do not identify appropriate and useful indicators to help controlling the resources allocation. By mobilizing the literature on project management and innovation, we studied the processes adopted in five small and medium enterprises that have experienced success in new product development to identify the activities as well as the indicators used to make decisions about continuing or stopping the project. The results show that the activities and indicators are adapted to the context of each enterprise, such as the availability of certain resources and expertise and the proximity of the customers, and that taking these indicators into account ensures better management of new product development projects and reduces failure rates.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing every facet of the business landscape. Early adopter firms have implemented AI for various reasons, but the number one benefit realized is increased ...innovation (Jyoti & Riley, 2022). Early adopters of AI for new product development (NPD) not only demonstrate that AI finds many applications in NPD, but also offers substantial payoffs. This AI revolution is coming fast, estimated to have a 13–15 year window of adoption, peaking before the end of this decade.
This article focuses on AI applications in three target areas in the new product process, where the need for better solutions is high, and the applications for AI show significant benefits. They are: 1) idea generation and concept creation and testing; 2) building a robust business case leading to better “go-to-development” investment decisions; and 3) the design, engineering, development, and testing of the product. AI applications in each of these three target areas are described briefly, along with some in-depth case illustrations of AI at work in NPD, and the benefits achieved by leading firms. These benefits include a remarkable reduction in development and testing times; optimally designed products; better and more appealing new product ideas and concepts; and more effective and productive voice-of-customer studies.
Despite the reported benefits of AI in NPD, the adoption rate is quite low, about 13% across firms globally (McKinsey, 2023); thus, AI for NPD was in the “early adopter” stage of the Rogers diffusion of innovation curve by early 2023. Impediments to adoption are outlined, based on numerous studies: the lack of a strong business case; high perceived costs of adoption; the lack of corporate readiness and the right mindset; and risks and ethical issues.
High uncertainties remain regarding the adoption of AI in NPD, and many unknowns still exist; thus, numerous opportunities for academic research are identified in the form of research questions begging to be answered. The article ends with a call to action, aimed at both practitioners and academics: AI is the most significant innovation in our lifetime! It's time we all got on board.
•P4: Because AI excels at information handling AI is ideally positioned to transform this NPD information process.•P1: Early adopter firms implemented AI for various reasons. But the number one benefit realized is increased innovation.•P9: Management will have to accept the primacy of AI in key go/no go decisions in NPD. Management's track record here is poor.•P9: AI and digital product design-and-validation yield remarkable reductions in development times.•P13: Commonly cited benefits of AI are based on single case anecdotes,or on broad surveys, rather than on rigorous research.•P18: The window is short. The peak of the AI adoption curve for business will likely arrive in about 5 years.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to adopt the dynamic capability (DC) view as a theoretical framework to empirically investigate the relationships among human resource (HR)-related quality ...management (QM) practices: new product development (NPD) as a specific DC, learning orientation, knowledge integration, and strategic flexibility. Learning orientation and knowledge integration represent two antecedents of strategic flexibility, and strategic flexibility is the developed ability that facilitates NPD. Design/methodology/approach To empirically test the relationships, the authors used data from 236 European firms and performed structural equation modeling. Findings Results indicate that HR-related QM practices contribute to creating a learning-oriented company, integrating knowledge, and supporting successful NPD. Furthermore, knowledge integration is positively related to NPD through strategic flexibility. Practical implications This study is relevant for practitioners because it identifies key points in QM implementation that enable firms to be more strategically flexible and thus better able to regularly develop new products. Originality/value When organizations must sustain their competitive positions by continuously adapting to environmental changes, it is important to study not only how QM implementation is positively related to the firm performance on which a significant portion of the QM literature has focused but also to study whether QM implementation is related to strategic variables and can make a contribution to strategic processes. To fill the void in the HR and QM literature, this study offers an integrated framework with empirical support that identifies the role of HR-related QM practices in learning orientation, knowledge integration, strategic flexibility, and NPD.
In Chinese exporting, small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) need to be innovative to develop a competitive advantage. This research explored how these organizations can use two resources: 1) guanxi ...with customers, distributors, suppliers, and government officials; and 2) IT systems to enhance their innovation capabilities and new product performance. The moderating role of an organization's proactiveness with respect to new product development is also examined. The resource-based view provides the theoretical support for the research. A conceptual model is developed and tested using survey data gathered from 210 Chinese SMEs in manufacturing industries that were analyzed using SmartPLS 2.0. Results show that IT systems are positively related to innovation capability. The relationship between guanxi and innovation capability is significant for firms that exhibit high levels of proactiveness but not when proactiveness is low.
This investigation examines how consumer durable goods producers can leverage virtual reality for new product development. First, the authors develop a prelaunch sales forecasting approach with two ...key features: virtual reality and an extended macro-flow model. To assess its effectiveness, the authors collect data from 631 potential buyers of two real-world innovations. The results reveal that the new approach yields highly accurate prelaunch forecasts across the two field studies: compared with the actual sales data tracked after the product launches, the prediction errors for the aggregated first-year sales are only 1.9% (Study 1a, original prelaunch sales forecast), .0% (Study 1b, forecast with actual advertisement spending), and 20.0% (Study 1b, original prelaunch forecast). Moreover, the average mean absolute percentage error for the monthly sales is only 23% across both studies. Second, to understand the mechanisms of virtual reality, the authors conduct a controlled laboratory experiment. The findings reveal that virtual reality fosters behavioral consistency between participants’ information search, preferences, and buying behavior. Moreover, virtual reality enhances participants’ perceptions related to presence and vividness, but not their perceptions related to alternative theoretical perspectives. Finally, the authors provide recommendations for when and how managers can use virtual reality in new product development.
This exploratory study investigates the relationship of plan-driven Stage-Gate and flexible Agile models with new product development performance through an original conceptualization that focuses on ...their underlying principles for managing uncertainty and the resulting changes. While Stage-Gate attempts to control uncertainty up-front to avoid later changes, Agile seeks to adapt to uncertainty and accommodate changes for a longer proportion of the development process. In addition, we examine the interaction effects of combining the two models. The analysis of survey data on 181 software developers shows that the adoption of Stage-Gate principles is negatively associated with speed and cost performance. For Agile, the use of sprints is positively related to new product quality, on-time and on-budget completion, while early and frequent user feedback would seem to prolong time-to-market. Finally, the results highlight a nuanced interaction between Stage-Gate and Agile, both positive and negative depending on the principles considered.
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