The literature on product development continues to grow. This research is varied and vibrant, yet large and fragmented. In this article we first organize the burgeoning product-development literature into three streams of research: product development as rational plan, communication web, and disciplined problem solving. Second, we synthesize research findings into a model of factors affecting the success of product development. This model highlights the distinction between process performance and product effectiveness and the importance of agents, including team members, project leaders, senior management, customers, and suppliers, whose behavior affects these outcomes. Third, we indicate potential paths for future research based on the concepts and links that are missing or not well defined in the model.

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Product development: past research, present findings, and future directions

This article outlines a conceptual model of entrepreneurship as an organizational-level phenomenon. The model is intended to depict the organizational system elements that relate to entrepreneurial...

A Conceptual Model of Entrepreneurship as Firm Behavior

A critical look at technological innovation typology and innovativeness terminology: a literature review

Relationships between operational practices and performance among early adopters of green supply chain management practices in chinese manufacturing enterprises

https://www.tlog.lth.se/fileadmin/tlog/Utbildning/Kurser/Logistik_i_foersoerjningskedjor/Artiklar/JOM-2004-Paulraj.pdf

Towards a theory of supply chain management: the constructs and measurements

This paper reports on the culmination of a four year study of high technology product innovation. During the course of this research, we examined over 330 new products in the electronics industry in order to better understand the factors that differentiated successful from unsuccessful product development efforts.

This paper presents the conclusions from the final phase of the research. In this study we empirically test a model of product development that incorporates our findings from the earlier exploratory survey and case study phases of our research. The model identifies the critical organizational subunits, development activities and communication channels that influence product outcome, as well as, external factors such as characteristics of the product and the competitive environment.

Our findings suggest the following key factors affect product outcome: 1 the quality of the R&D organization, 2 the technical performance of the product, 3 the product's value to the customer, 4 the synergy of the new product with the firm's existing competences, and 5 management support during the product development and introduction processes. Also important but less significant were the 6 competence of the marketing and manufacturing organizations and market factors, such as the 7 competitiveness and the 8 size and rate of growth of the target market.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2632324.pdf

A Model of New Product Development: An Empirical Test

This paper summarizes the first phase of the Stanford Innovation Project, a long-term study of U.S. industrial innovation. As part of this initial phase, begun in 1982, two surveys were conducted: 1) an open-ended survey of 158 new products in the electronics industry, followed by 2) a structured survey of 118 of the original products. Both surveys used a pairwise comparison methodology. Our research identified eight broad areas that appear to be important for new product success in a high-technology environment: 1) market knowledge gained through frequent and intense customer interaction, which leads to high benefit-to-cost products; 2) and 3) planning and coordination of the new product process, especially the RD 4) emphasis on marketing and sales; 5) management support for the product throughout the development and launch stages; 6) the contribution margin of the product; 7) early market entry; 8) proximity of the new product technologies and markets to the existing strengths of the developing unit. Based on these results, a preliminary model of the new product process is proposed in the concluding section. There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system. Niccolo Machiavelli.

A study of success and failure in product innovation: The case of the U.S. electronics industry

The new product learning cycle

Managing the buyer-supplier interface for on-time performance in product development

Bringing new products to the marketplace faster has become a strategic imperative in many markets, especially high technology industries. Much attention has focused on techniques purported to bring products to the market more quickly, but little empirical research has been conducted to validate these techniques. This study tests the relationship between the popular time to market acceleration techniques and product development time in a sample of electronics companies. Our findings suggest that only four of the 12 techniques we studied are significantly related with development time performance as proposed. We found that fast developers had teams that were cross functional, dedicated, included fast time to market as a development goal, and overlapped development activities more so than slow developers. Our regression results were very significant, and accounted for 32% of the variance in development time performance. We concluded, however, given many of techniques were not supported that successful fast cycle development can not be accomplished by using a sporadic combination of factors. Furthermore, we feel additional research is needed to explore the interaction and mediating effects of these techniques upon each other, as well as identify other intermediate processes and external conditions that may also affect product development effectiveness.

B.J. Zirger

Papers

A Model of New Product Development: An Empirical Test

A study of success and failure in product innovation: The case of the U.S. electronics industry

The new product learning cycle

Managing the buyer-supplier interface for on-time performance in product development

The effect of acceleration techniques on product development time