6.2.1 From Foresight to Insight: A Strategic Alignment Model for New Product Development

Abstract

The most important roles of strategic management concern about the right “attention” and the right “execution.” Based on this idea, the research question of this study is “How to align the strategy of a company to new product development?” This paper will focus on the longitudinal deployment of strategy and try to provide a solid methodology of strategic alignment to penetrate the multiple management levels of a company. Based on Ansoff's gap analysis model of strategic management, roadmapping techniques of management of technology, Work Breakdown Structure of project management, a Strategic Alignment Model for New Product Development (SAM‐NPD) is proposed in this study. A Six‐Echelon model, including industry, market, product, technology, intellectual property and cost structure analyses, is also developed for guiding the implementation of the SAM‐NPD model. Finally, a longitudinal case study of the successful application of this methodology in Taiwan is illustrated. Keywords: strategic management; strategic alignment model for new product development; SAM‐NPD; six‐echelon model.