Order and Disorder in Product Innovation Models

Abstract

This article argues that the conceptual development of product innovation models goes hand in hand with paradigmatic changes in the field of organization science. Remarkable similarities in the change of organizational perspectives and product innovation models are noticeable. To illustrate how changes in the organizational paradigm are being translated into changes in new product development (NPD) practices, five NPD models are presented: the sequential, compression, flexible, integrative and improvisational models. The evolution of product innovation management shows a move from planned and mechanistic, towards emergent and organic models. Such a process of re-orientation poses several challenges that are presented in the form of six propositions: from universal to contingent models, from invariant to flexible practices, from avoiding risks to taking advantage of opportunities, from planning to learning, from exclusive teams to inclusive networks, from structure to structured chaos.These new models and the way they accompany the general development of organization science will be discussed here. Aiming to parallel the developments of organization theory and NPD theory, this paper does not review the product innovation field in its entirety (for that purpose see e.g. Eisenhardt, 1995, or Wind et al., 1997); rather it reviews product innovation models, which have been central to new product and organizational success (Ernst, 2001).The paper starts with the presentation of two alternatives on the ethos of organizing: organizing as order versus organizing as disorder. From the organizing as order to the organizing as disorder continuum, five product innovation models can be devised: the sequential, compression, flexible, integrative and improvisational models. These two sections will be followed by a final section in which six trends in NPD, derived from the previous discussion, will be presented.

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