Murray R. Millson

A Survey of Major Approaches for Accelerating New Product Development

Abstract Product life-cycles are becoming shorter, leading firms to reduce the time to bring new products to market. Being early can provide a significant competitive advantage, making the acceleration of new product development (NPD) an important area for research and inquiry. Based on their review of a wide range of literatures in business strategy, marketing, new product development, manufacturing and organization management, Murray Millson, S.P. Raj and David Wilemon report a general set of techniques for reducing the developmental cycle time for new products. The article develops a hierarchy of available NPD acceleration approaches and discusses potential benefits, limitations and significant challenges to successful implementation.

The Impact of Organizational Integration and Product Development Proficiency on Market Success

Abstract This research investigates three major hypotheses important to new product market success: the greater organizational integration during the development of new products, the greater the market success; the greater organizational integration during the development of new products, the greater new product development proficiency; and the greater new product development proficiency, the greater the market success. “Organizational integration” is defined as the degree of cooperation and communication between internal and external NPD “support” groups and NPD teams. “NPD process proficiency” is defined as how well new product development stages and the new product development process as a whole is performed. “New product market success” is represented by four measures: the degree to which profits and sales exceeded or fell short of what was expected, and the degree to which the new product was perceived to exceed or fall short of expectations related to entering existing and new markets. Information was obtained concerning the most and least successful new products of U.S. firms in the medical instruments, the electrical equipment, and the heavy construction equipment industries. The field survey approach was utilized in which surveys were mailed to recipients such as new product development managers who already had been designated by executives of the sample firms. Several important findings were uncovered during this research. Overall organizational integration was found to be significantly associated with new product market success. Internal integration, the coordination between new product development teams and functional departments, was found to be significantly related to product market success. A significant relationship between new product development proficiency during the NPD “post-launch stage” and the degree of integration between an NPD team and external NPD organizations, such as customers and suppliers, was detected. During the post-launch stage, new product development proficiency also was found to be significantly related to new product market success. These findings suggest several important implications for new product development managers and scholars.

Designing Strategic Innovation Networks to Facilitate Global NPD Performance

This article reviews and applies a strategic new product development (NPD) networking maturation process developed for organisations that employ networks to develop successful new products. Understanding this model can assist new product developers in making important decisions for attaining marketplace advantages that can aid the successful development and commercialisation of new products. This paper describes the development of a strategic NPD networking maturation process model that is compatible with current global new product development practices and environments. It is noted that strategic NPD networking for new product development is not a discrete event but a process that involves several stages. These stages are described and include awareness, exploration, commitment and dissolution. It is suggested that embarking on a strategic NPD networking process resembles the processes of the adoption and implementation of an important innovation. The paper concludes with a summary of the discussion.

Examining the simultaneous impact of market newness and product innovativeness on the organisational integration–new product market success relationship: a moderation study

This paper examines the moderating influence of market newness and product innovativeness on the organisational integration–new product market success relationship. Data from the electrical products, medical devices, and the heavy construction equipment industries were studied. The major research question studied is to what degree do market newness and product innovativeness simultaneously moderate the relationship between new product market success and the degree of NPD organisational integration? It was found that in the studied industries market newness was found to have a greater moderating impact on the organisational integration–new product market success relationship than product innovativeness when the effects of both moderators were simultaneously investigated. Implications of this research are provided.

Exploring the NPD strategy development proficiency – new product market success relationship: a study of mediation and moderation

This research examines the impact of New Product Development (NPD) strategy development proficiency on new product market success. We obtained data from firms in three industries to evaluate five research questions that address the associations among four salient NPD constructs, including NPD strategy development proficiency, R&D/technical proficiency, new product market success and market dynamism. We found that R&D/technical proficiency significantly mediates the strategy development proficiency – new product market success relationship. We also found that market dynamism neither moderates the NPD strategy development proficiency – new product market success relationship nor the R&D/technical process proficiency – new product market success relationship. We provide managerial implications from our research.

A comparative study of organisational integration and NPD process proficiency in the heavy construction equipment industry: past and present

This study investigates new product market success in the heavy construction equipment industry over the past 20 years in the USA. This research examines the relationships between new product market success and (1) the proficiency with which new products are developed and (2) the degree of organisational integration among various groups of people. This study addresses three major research questions regarding the relationships among these three primary variables and whether Time Period (1993 and 2013) moderated the relationships between new product market success and (1) new product development (NPD) process proficiency and (2) organisational integration. It was found that NPD process proficiency significantly impacts new product market success in both the 2013 and the 1993 time periods. However, no moderating effects were found regarding the individual time periods but a direct effect was found regarding the lapse of time between 1993 and 2013. Study implications and recommendations are provided for NPD managers.

An examination of the moderation effects of NPD resource allocation and product innovativeness on the NPD stage process proficiency–new product market success relationship

This study examines the relationships between new product success and the proficiency with which three major New Product Development (NPD) stages are executed, and the moderation of these relationships by product innovativeness and the allocation of NPD resources. This research demonstrates that NPD stage process proficiencies are significantly related to new product success, that the proficiency with which the commercialisation stage is performed is more important to new product success than the proficiency with which other stages are performed, and that NPD resource allocation moderates the NPD process proficiency–new product success relationship. Study implications for managers and scholars are offered.