Birgit Verworn

The Fuzzy Front End of Japanese New Product Development Projects: Impact on Success and Differences between Incremental and Radical Projects

This study of Japanese New Product Development (NPD) projects explores the fuzzy front end of innovation. The goal of the paper is twofold: First, we analyse the impact of the fuzzy front end on the success of all the NPD projects. We develop a conceptual model based on the information-processing approach. A structural equation model was fitted to data from 497 NPD projects in Japanese manufacturing firms to test the proposed model. The empirical analysis suggests that an early reduction of market and technical uncertainty as well as an initial planning before development have a positive impact on NPD project success. The model accounts for 17% of the variance of the efficiency and 24% of the variance of the effectiveness-dependent variable. Thus, the front end phase is an important driver of NPD project success. Second, we compare the fuzzy front end of incremental to radical NPD projects. Although these projects differ in many aspects of newness, we found only a few differences with regard to the fuzzy front end. For instance, it was more difficult to estimate the market size and price sensitivity of the customers during the fuzzy front end of the radical NPD projects compared with the incremental projects. Implications of the empirical results and limitations of the study are discussed.

The Fuzzy Front End of Innovation

The fast transformation of technologies into new products or processes is one of the core challenges for any technology-based enterprise. Within the innovation process, we believe, the early phases (fuzzy front end) to have the highest impact on the whole process and the result (Input-Output Process), since it will influence the design and total costs of the innovation extremely. However the Fuzzy Front End is unfortunately the least-well structured part of the innovation process, both in theory and in practice. The focus of the present chapter is on methods and tools to manage the fuzzy front end of the innovation process. Firstly, the activities, characteristics, and challenges of the front end are described. Secondly, a framework of the application fields for different methods and tools is presented: Since a product upgrade requires a different approach compared to radical innovation, where the market is unknown and a new technology is applied, we believe such a framework to be useful for practitioners. Thirdly, a selection of methods and tools that can be applied to the fuzzy front end are presented and allocated within the framework. The methods selected here address process improvements, concept generation, and concept testing.

Innovationsmanagement in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen

In der einschlagigen Literatur wird in der Regel das Bild stark formalisierter und methodengestutzter Innovationsprozesse aufgezeichnet, das primar fur grose Unternehmen zutreffend erscheint. Inwieweit sich diese Vorstellung auch auf Organisationen geringerer Grose ubertragen lasst, steht im Fokus der vorliegenden Studie. In einer explorativen Befragung werden der Methodeneinsatz sowie die Starken bzw. Schwachen bei Innovationsprozessen kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen (KMU) untersucht. Das zentrale Ergebnis ist, dass sich das Innovationsmanagement in KMU haufig informal, wenig standardisiert und unter geringem Einsatz von Methoden vollzieht. Dies ist insbesondere in den fruhen Phasen des Innovationsprozesses festzustellen. Fruhe Defizite im Innovationsmanagement setzen sich haufig in den nachfolgenden Phasen im Prozessablauf fort.

How German measurement and control firms integrate market and technological knowledge into the front end of new product development

During the last five years, researchers and practitioners in the field of technology and innovation management have been paying increased attention to the fuzzy front end of innovation, which ranges from opportunity identification to the go/no go decision for development. Nevertheless, little is known about the fuzzy front end in practice. This article examines the fuzzy front end of new product development projects in German measurement and control firms. For this purpose, every German company in that area was asked to describe the development process for the last product it introduced to the market. One hundred forty-four fully completed questionnaires were returned. The focus of the study is on how to integrate market and technological knowledge into the fuzzy front end. In addition, results are compared to theoretical and empirical findings.

Bedeutung und Charakteristika der frühen Phasen des Innovationsprozesses

Die Notwendigkeit der Entwicklung von Innovationen in Unternehmen ist unbestritten. Manager aller Industrien versprechen sich von Innovationen Umsatz- und Gewinnwachstum.1 Die Produktlebenszeiten verkurzen sich in zahlreichen Branchen dramatisch, der Trend geht zu immer mehr Produkteinfuhrungen, ausgelost durch technischen Fortschritt, neue Marktanforderungen und globalen Wettbewerb.2 Besonders viele Innovatoren finden sich in den Bereichen Spitzen- und Hochwertige Technologie und wissensintensive Dienstleistungen (vgl. Abb. 1). Ca. 60% der Industrieunternehmen haben 2004 angegeben, in den letzten drei Jahren neue Produkte eingefuhrt oder die Produktionsverfahren verbessert zu haben.

Does Age Have an Impact on Having Ideas? An Analysis of the Quantity and Quality of Ideas Submitted to a Suggestion System

Demographic changes in recent years indicate that the personnel structure of the workforce will change considerably, as will typical career patterns. The need to innovate in order to guarantee the effective functioning and long-term survival of firms will remain unchanged. Suggestion systems are one means to actively solicit voluntary constructive ideas from employees. Based on the deficit model and SOC theory, this paper explores the role of age in the quantity and quality of ideas submitted through suggestion systems. Data from the suggestions systems of two German locations of a large European company were analysed. A total of 633 submitted ideas led to a monetary reward between summer 2005 and February 2007. To test the hypotheses, linear regression analysis was used. The results of the current study do not support the deficit model as all hypotheses based on the deficit model were rejected. In one location, an increase in the quality of ideas with age was observed, in contrast to the hypothesized relationship. Consequently, managers should question assumptions of declining innovativeness with age when it comes to assessing their employees.

Does the ageing workforce hamper the innovativeness of firms? (No) evidence from Germany

Due to demographic changes, the personnel structure of the workforce in countries like Germany and Japan will change considerably in the next few years. At the same time, companies need creative and skilled human resources to innovate. We analysed data from the 2001 German Community Innovation Survey to explore the impact of personnel structure (share of older employees, skills shortages, share of highly skilled employees) on innovation input and output. Overall, we did not find support for a negative effect of a high share of older employees in a company on innovation output. However, companies with a high share of older employees tended to invest less in further training (considered innovation input). This contradicts the call for lifelong learning. In accordance with our propositions, a high share of highly skilled employees had a positive effect on innovation input and output. Companies which experienced skills shortages were more likely to invest in further training. However, they were, somewhat surprisingly, more innovative than companies which did not suffer from skills shortages.

The innovation process: an introduction to process models

In research as well as in practice, process models are an expatiated element of innovation management. They fulfill different tasks. In practice, for instance, process models are used as a management tool to standardize development activities. Researchers try to identify activities to be found in every product development process. The design of the different process models is as manifold as their application. It heavily depends on the intention of the practitioner or academic. Therefore, there exists no one best way. Partially, one academic uses different process models for different research designs. The aim of this working papaer is to give management scholars and practitioners a review of different fields of application and design of innovation process models. For this purpose, a brief retrospection of the emergence and advancement of process models and a selection of process models is provided.

Modelle des Innovationsprozesses

Sowohl in der Forschung als auch in der Praxis sind Prozessmodelle ein wichtiger Bestandteil des Innovationsmanagements. Hierbei erfullen Prozessmodelle die unterschiedlichsten Aufgaben. In der Praxis werden beispielsweise Prozessmodelle als Managementtool eingesetzt, um real ablaufende Prozesse zu standardisieren. In der Forschung werden Innovationsprozesse empirisch erfasst und in Prozessmodellen moglichst realistisch wiedergegeben. So vielfaltig wie die Einsatzmoglichkeiten von Prozessmodellen sind die Ausgestaltungen der Modelle, die von der jeweiligen Zielsetzung des Unternehmens oder des Forschers abhangen. Somit gibt es nicht das richtige Prozessmodell. Ziel dieses Arbeitspapieres ist es, einen Uberblick uber die verschiedenen Einsatzmoglichkeiten und Ausgestaltungen von Prozessmodellen zu geben. Es wird eine Auswahl von Prozessmodellen aus dem englischsprachigen und deutschsprachigen Raum prasentiert und Besonderheiten herausgearbeitet.

Wie werden ältere IngenieurInnen im Vergleich zu jüngeren eingeschätzt? Eine Studie zu Altersstereotypen und Geschlecht

Zusammenfassung. Im Zuge des demografischen Wandels werden in Deutschland die Belegschaften in den nachsten Jahrzehnten erheblich altern. Gleichzeitig ist im Ingenieursbereich ein Fachkraftemangel zu beobachten bzw. zu erwarten. Wie werden altere IngenieurInnen im Vergleich zu jungeren eingeschatzt und bei Personalentscheidungen behandelt? Dieser Frage geht die vorliegende Studie mit Hilfe einer schriftlichen Befragung nach. Die zu Grunde liegenden Hypothesen werden vom Drei-Komponenten-Modell der Einstellung nach Rosenberg und Hovland abgeleitet. Die Existenz bisher in der Literatur diskutierter negativer und positiver Altersstereotype konnte fur die eingegrenzte Berufsgruppe der Ingenieure bestatigt werden. Ebenso wurden jungere Ingenieure bei einer fiktiven Beforderungsentscheidung auf eine innovative Position gegenuber alteren bevorzugt, d. h. stereotype Einstellungen zum Alter schlugen sich in Absichtsauserungen nieder, Altere zu diskriminieren. Weiterhin werden die Rolle des Geschlechts des Einstell...