Measuring performance in new product development projects: A case study in the aerospace industry

Implementing a performance measurement system (PMS) for research and development (R&D) is fundamental for supporting decision making and motivating researchers and engineers; however, this is a very challenging task, because effort levels are not measurable and success highly uncertain. Even if the subject has largely been debated in academic and practitioners literature so far, an acknowledged managerial approach is not available yet. This paper investigates the implementation and use of a PMS in new product development (NPD) projects, which represents a relatively unexplored issue in the R&D performance measurement debate. In particular, studying the case of a military aircraft development project, it provides a reference framework that integrates the major literature contributions' findings and suggests a practical approach for the design and implementation of an effective PMS for NPD.     

Purchasing involvement in technologically uncertain new product development projects: Challenges and implications

This paper explores an emerging field of research within purchasing that concerns the changing role of purchasing when companies embark on technologically uncertain NPD projects. Where existing research has examined the role of purchasing in facilitating early supplier involvement in new product development, little research has been done to date on how purchasing's role might change when facing technologically uncertain NPD that require new capabilities and new technology. Based on an in-depth case study of a technologically uncertain NPD project in the passenger ship rescue equipment industry, the paper sheds light on how supplier involvement in NPD projects with a high degree of technological uncertainty impacts on a company's sourcing strategies and the challenges this poses for purchasing.Based on the case study findings, we propose a) that early purchasing involvement in technologically uncertain NPD projects requires a mature purchasing organization that possesses competences to interact effectively with R&D and b) that involving a new supplier from a different industry in NPD projects characterized by technological uncertainty requires a leap of faith from both innovating firm and supplier. The paper contributes to research in early supplier involvement in new product development, in particular the thin branch within this body of literature that now focuses on early purchasing involvement.     

Outsourcing and strategic alliances for product development: a case of Banta Digital Group

Banta Digital Group (BDG) is a pre media company needing to fill a void in the market it serves. This need could be met by an application that consisted of software and database development. A problem arose due to two conditions. First, the company was late getting to the market with this product. Second, the company did not have dedicated resources to work on this project. BDG needed to adopt a solution that comprised of outsourcing and strategic alliances to fill this market need. The study reports how the company selected and managed strategic alliances through the creation of a virtual team. It also reviews details of the new business operating system instituted to foster an environment for further product and process innovation. Finally, the proposed approach used in this unique type of product development is described, which is also applicable in many business situations.     

Analysis of the effect of risk management practices on the performance of new product development programs

Risk management is receiving much attention, as it is seen as a method to improve cost, schedule, and technical performance of new product development programs. However, there is a lack of empirical research that investigates the effective integration of specific risk management practices proposed by various standards with new product development programs and their association with various dimensions of risk management success. Based on a survey of 291 product development programs, this paper investigates the association of risk management practices with five categories of product development program performance: (A) Quality Decision Making; (B) High Program Stability; (C) Open, problem solving organization; (D) Overall new product development project success; and (E) overall product success. The results show that six categories of risk management practices are most effective: (1) Develop risk management skills and resources; (2) Tailor risk management to and integrate it with new product development; (3) Quantify impacts of risks on your main objectives; (4) Support all critical decisions with risk management results; (5) Monitor and review your risks, risk mitigation actions, and risk management process; and (6) Create transparency regarding new product development risks. The data shows that the risk management practices are directly associated with outcome measures in the first three categories (improved decision making, program stability and problem solving). There is also evidence that the risk management practices indirectly associate with the remaining two categories of outcome measures (project and product success). Additional research is needed to describe the exact mechanisms through which risk management practices influence NPD program success.     

Knowledge-oriented human resource configurations,the new product development learning process,and perceived new product performance

We propose a set of organizational efforts that can help companies accumulate and learn knowledge related to new product development (NPD) activities. We call it the NPD learning process and argue that a set of coherent human resource management (HRM) practices, termed knowledge-oriented human resource (HR) configuration, can facilitate the NPD learning process. Collecting survey data from Taiwan, we find that the knowledge-oriented HR configuration is positively related to the NPD learning process and that the NPD learning process is positively related to managers' perceived new product performance. This study contributes to the literature of strategic HRM and innovation management.     

Radical innovations in new product development and their financial performance implications: An event study of US manufacturing firms

At the dawn of the 21st century, global competition continues to increase at an accelerating rate and radical innovation is recognized as a potent weapon for firms to achieve sustainable competitive advantages. Academics, practitioners and consultants share the view that radical innovation is important to the long-term financial success of firms. Nevertheless, empirical studies on the relationship between radical innovation and firm performance have been dominated by survey research, which provided little concrete evidence on the financial impact of radical innovation. In this study we traced the financial performance of publicly traded manufacturing firms in the United States that introduced radical innovations over the period 1986-2000 and examined whether radical innovation could lead to superior financial performance in these firms. We employed the event-study method, matching each sample firm with a control group of firms in the same industry with similar pre-event performance and firm size. Our results show that while radical innovation helps firms maintain sales growth and return on sales (ROS), firm profitability in terms of return on assets (ROA) is not significantly improved. In fact, manufacturers suffer from a decline in profitability upon the introduction of radical innovations in new product development.     

Project management for new product development

This article examines the intersection of the project management body of knowledge with new product development (NPD). The area under examination is the development of consumer products that have a significant engineering production content. It is concluded that the project management method, with its structured task definition and software tools, is generally useful for managing NPD projects. However, in some areas, project management incompletely meets the needs of NPD. Specifically, NPD is characterized by complex interrelated activities and large uncertainties about precisely which solution path will be taken, such that the full scope of the project can often not be anticipated beforehand. The article identifies that more research is required to validate the stage‐gate and lean project management methods. Whereas cost is the primary focus in project management, with NPD there is a need to consider both cost and income (from product sales) in making strategic decisions. Communication and human resource management are important factors in NPD success, but existing project management perspectives have little to say about the social and behavioral aspects, such as organizational culture, team dynamics, and leadership styles, especially not for NPD. Current project management practices are very much based on “output control” (targets, appraisal, rewards, management by objectives), which the human resource management literature identifies as inhibiting innovation. There is also likely to exist an intersection, as yet poorly understood, between project management and knowledge management, particularly for innovation processes such as NPD. For practitioners, the main message is that the project management method provides a basic, but imperfect, tool for managing NPD. The relevance for researchers is that gaps have been identified in the project management method as it is currently applied to NPD. Several places are identified where further research is required to (a) better understand the causality between factors (e.g., human resource management) and project success and (b) adapt project management methods to better serve the NPD process.     

Global sourcing and quality recalls: An empirical study of outsourcing-supplier concentration-product recalls linkages

This study investigates how supply chain sourcing strategies are associated with product quality recalls. In particular, the research examines how make-or-buy decisions (i.e., outsourcing), the use of foreign suppliers (i.e., offshore outsourcing), the relocation of production to offshore markets (i.e., offshoring), and decisions to consolidate supply bases (i.e., the use of few vs. myriad suppliers) are related to product recalls. Product recalls are serious quality failures in supply chains with significant, negative impacts on firm performance. Product recalls are frequently connected to the globalization of supply chains. Globalization has, at times, promoted inconsistency in quality control and standards, leading to quality problems and failures. Data across multiple industries, with widely reported recalls, have been collected and analyzed using regression techniques. Our findings indicate that offshore outsourcing has a greater impact on recalls than offshoring without outsourcing; outsourcing domestically has the least influence. Outsourcing to a smaller supplier base may lead to fewer recalls at low levels of outsourcing. However, it may exacerbate the impact of outsourcing on recalls at high levels of outsourcing.     

Supplier involvement in new product development and innovation: Taking stock and looking to the future

This paper provides a comprehensive and critical review and synthesis of the current state of empirical research into supplier involvement in new product development (NPD). The paper begins by defining supplier involvement in NPD and evaluating the rationale for supplier involvement in NPD. This suggests that early and extensive supplier involvement in NPD projects has the potential to improve NPD effectiveness and efficiency, however, existing research remains fragmented and empirical findings to date show conflicting results. The paper takes stock of the research on supplier involvement in NPD, tracing the origins of the literature to the late 1980s, and evaluating the development of the field up to the present day. From this broad base of empirical research the analysis identifies a set of factors affecting the success of supplier involvement projects. The paper concludes with a discussion of two emerging themes: (1) supplier relationship development and adaptation; (2) supply network involvement in product innovation.     

New product development projects: The effects of organizational culture

Despite the increasing use of project management within organizations, an attendant poor rate of success among these projects has been observed (Clancy & Stone, 2005; Ives, 2005). Seventy‐five percent of all business transformation projects fail (Collyer, 2000) and only 16% of U.S. IT projects are completed on time and on budget (Peled, 2000). In an attempt to overcome such a high project failure rate, this paper investigates the effects of organizational culture on the performance of particular types of projects: new product development (NPD) projects. Using data from 95 U.S. organizations, the study provides evidence of the significant effects of organizational culture on NPD projects.     

Leadership substitutes and personality impact on time and quality in virtual new product development projects

Leadership, personality, and organizational factors were analyzed to measure their combined effect on virtual‐based product development time and scope‐quality performance. Over 1,000 team members were surveyed. MANCOVA was used to test if leadership, personality project, and/or organizational factors impacted performance. All realistic factors were included to detect leadership substitutes moderation, mediation, and prediction. Bias was reduced by not surveying leaders, by using reverse item coding, and by checking social desirability. Experimental control and common method variance were managed by including multilevel and multisource data. Performance was objectively computed from organizational data. The findings were that transactional leadership (not transformational) and some personality attri‐butes (leader substitutes) were significant factors, increasing project scope quality and time performance. This article was published online on September 29, 2010. An error was subsequently identified. This notice is included in the online and print versions to indicate that both have been corrected. See the correction noted on the seventh page of the print version of the article.     

酒店行业发展环境及酒店产品设计策略探讨

文章分析了酒店行业发展形势,剖析了当前酒店行业发展的弊端和劣势,在总结酒店行业发展前景的基础上,提出了酒店产品设计的策略。     

论跟随型与领先型新产品开发战略

新产品开发战略是新产品开发能否成功的首要前提,企业选用新产品开发战略合理与否关系到企业新产品的竞争力,关系到企业新产品开发能否成功。从企业开发新产品的胆略以及所开发新产品的创新程度考虑,有跟随型新产品开发战略和领先型新产品开发战略,文章通过对这两种开发战略的优缺点、适用条件和应用情况的分析,总结出如何根据企业和市场的具体情况选用合适的新产品开发战略。     

面向产品开发的集成创新平台研究

在面向产品开发的集成创新体系中,平台成为了整个体系的支撑,是集成创新体系不可或缺的重要组成部分。文章在深入阐述平台、产品平台和集成创新平台内涵的基础上,进一步研究了集成创新平台的组成要素以及集成创新平台的运行机理,最后对集成创新平台框架作了简要设计和分析。     

Effective strategies for internal outsourcing and offshoring of business services: An empirical investigation

The growing pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency induces many organizations to undertake shared services initiatives. This consolidation and streamlining of common business functions is also known as insourcing, in-house services, business services, or staff services. While adoption of a shared service structure is viewed by many as an appropriate strategy to pursue, most companies still struggle to devise optimal strategies and to generate adequate returns on investments for their projects, because none of the approaches that are commonly adopted is recognized as universally effective.     

Sustainabilty integration in product portfolio for sustainable development: Findings from the industry

Many companies decide which services, products, and technologies to include in their product portfolio using evaluation criteria, which often consider cost, quality, risk, revenue, time, and market position. Incorporating sustainability in the portfolio evaluation criteria could ensure the development of sustainable solutions from the early stages of the product development process, where there is more room for innovation. The aim of this paper is to understand how sustainability can be integrated in the company portfolio development. Semi-structured interviews were performed with experts in the field and representatives from multinational manufacturing companies with operations in Sweden. Main findings from this study include a proposed definition of a sustainability product portfolio concept and suggested portfolio evaluation criteria from an industry perspective. Future research will develop a method to guide manufacturing companies in sustainability integration and implementation in product portfolios.     

In union lies strength: Collaborative competence in new product development and its performance effects

It is widely recognized that new product development (NPD) is a highly interdependent process, yet efforts to empirically model the interdependence and examine its effect on firm performance are scarce. Our study addresses this research gap. We model firms’ abilities to collectively collaborate with suppliers, customers, and internal employee teams in NPD as collaborative competence and examine its impact on project and market performance. Using responses collected from 189 NPD managers, we find empirical evidence for collaborative competence and its differential impact on project and market performance. Specifically, we find that collaborative competence has a direct impact on project performance, but its impact on market performance is indirect, mediated through project performance. The results have significant managerial implications; achieving superior market performance from inter- and intra-organizational involvement is contingent on achieving superior project performance, and companies that fail to achieve desired project performance outcomes will also fail in achieving market performance goals.     

Supplier's involvement and success of radical new product development in new ventures

Supplier involvement is essential to a new venture seeking to develop a radical innovation. Despite this, prior literature has not adequately addressed supplier involvement in radical innovation, nor what the antecedents to increased supplier involvement are. We build and test a conceptual model of the antecedents and new product performance outcomes of supplier involvement in the development of radical innovation by new ventures. Antecedent variables (supplier's specific investments and the new venture's qualification of the supplier's abilities) are drawn from the transaction cost analysis literature. We include new venture's relative power and new venture's level of commitment to the supplier as contingency conditions. We develop a set of hypotheses relating supplier involvement to radical innovation performance, relating the antecedent variables to supplier involvement, and also testing the interaction effects of the two contingency conditions. We gather data from both new ventures and their major suppliers for 173 recent radical innovation projects, and use hierarchical regression analysis to test our hypotheses. We find that the contingency conditions moderate achieved levels of supplier involvement, and also find a direct relationship between achieved level of involvement and performance. We conclude with theoretical contributions and managerial implications.