Auditing product innovation activities in manufacturing firms

Abstract

Increasing numbers of large firms are splitting themselves into self‐standing businesses for the purpose of targeting opportunities more accurately. Based on the findings of an empirical study of product development procedures in leading UK and US manufacturing firms this article provides R&D and other managers with a checklist of the processes involved in developing products speedily and efficiently. Businesses which use product innovation successfully as a competitive weapon are shown to approach development work in a way which is far more comprehensive than aiming only at efficient technical project management. In such businesses supportive top management and efficient interfunctional teamwork emerge as key factors concerned with running a total business both now and in the future.

Your new product development (NPD) is only as good as your process: an exploratory analysis of new NPD process design and implementation

“…Senior management sets the broad strategic goals for the NPD program and projects as well as provides teams with autonomy and empowerment to meet these goals (Sethi, 2000;Bonner et al, 2002;Nakata et al, 2006). Tushman and Nadler (1978) and Johne and Snelson (1988) describe their role as one of envisioning, energizing and enabling the innovation program. Through close monitoring, they make strategic decisions at NPD process gates during process implementation, keep the teams on track and on schedule, and coordinate cross-functional cooperation (Gupta and Wilemon, 1986;Song and Parry, 1997;Sethi et al, 2001;Cooper et al, 2002).…”

“…Stage-gate processes represent formal management procedures in which the required NPD tasks, their sequence and the employees responsible for their completion are laid out before execution (Johne and Snelson, 1988;Griffin, 1997). SBU3's process is simple and flexible, characterized by frequent interdepartmental collaboration and informal interactions.…”

“…At the same time, centralized decision making tends to repress the creativity, brainstorming, and experimentation acknowledged to promote innovation (Miller et al, 1988;Covin and Slevin, 1989;Damanpour, 1991). Meanwhile, rapid technological change and global competition lead firms to focus on customer relationship building and embrace coordination mechanisms that make possible empowered and responsive cross-functional teams (Gupta and Wilemon, 1986;Johne and Snelson, 1988). Flexible and informal mechanisms provide teams with greater autonomy and encourage idea exchange (Mintzberg, 1979;Dewar and Dutton, 1986).…”

Enviromental Marketing and New Product Development

“…This confirms that the important role of top management in the market performance of new products (Maidique and Zirger 1984) is duplicated in relation to the eco-performance of environmental products. This reflects Johne and Snelson's (1988) view that clear messages from the top about the importance of ENPD can become a critical success factor.…”

Dynamic Business Model Based on Research in Power Electronics Industry

“…(5) R&D to market performance Cross-functional teams are one option to handle the cross-functional responsibility as well as interfacing departments to promote better new product performance [22]. Porter's competitive forces have changed high-technology organizations to adopt cross-functional project group as in the deployment of new products and processes [23].…”