Your new product development (NPD) is only as good as your process: an exploratory analysis of new NPD process design and implementation
Author
Harmancioglu, N.
McNally, R. C.
Calantone, R. J.
Durmusoglu, S. S.
Date
2007Source Title
R & D Management
Print ISSN
0033-6807
Electronic ISSN
1467-9310
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing
Volume
37
Issue
5
Pages
399 - 424
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
111
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322
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Abstract
Given industry competitiveness, how do firms' new product development (NPD) process designs differ when responding to an innovation mandate? How do NPD design elements differ across firms when implementing NPD processes? These design elements are strategic business unit (SBU) senior management involvement, business case content, customer interactions, and cross‐functional integration. What are the consequences of different combinations of NPD process design elements for innovation productivity? We explore these questions via a collective case study of newly implemented NPD process designs at three different SBUs of a major US‐based international conglomerate, 1 year after receiving the mandate to grow through innovation. Our analysis suggests that industry competitiveness and firm characteristics influence the NPD process design as SBUs employ distinct combinations of NPD design elements. The differential emphasis on design elements leads to variation in process design and divergence in innovation productivity.