Understanding antecedents of new product development speed: A meta-analysis

New product development (NPD) speed is a key component of time-based strategy, which has become increasingly important for managing innovation in a fast-changing business environment. This meta-analytic review assesses the generalizability of the relationships between NPD speed and 17 of its antecedents to provide a better understanding of the salient and cross-situationally consistent factors that affect NPD speed. We grouped the antecedents into four categories of strategy, project, process, and team, and found that process and team characteristics are more generalizable and cross-situationally consistent determinants of NPD speed than strategy and project characteristics. We also conducted subgroup analyses and found that research method variables, such as level of analysis, source of data, and measurement of speed, moderate the relationships between NPD speed and its antecedents. We apply the study's findings to assess several models of NPD speed, such as the balanced model of product development, the strategic orientation and organizational capability model, the compression vs. the experiential model, the centrifugal and centripetal model, and the product development cycle time model. We also discuss the implications of our findings for research and practice.     

Preserving the link between R&D and manufacturing: Exploring challenges related to vertical integration and product/process newness

Adopting a contingency framework, this paper explores consequences of manufacturing outsourcing and product/process newness for R&D–manufacturing coordination. Based on case-study findings, the following coordination challenges are outlined: accessing manufacturing competence and understanding suppliers’ processes (outsourcing of manufacturing and high newness); receiving feedback from suppliers and motivating suppliers (outsourcing and low-medium newness); exploiting manufacturing competence and establishing close working relations (internalization of manufacturing and high newness); early involvement of manufacturing and suppliers, and reducing variability in supplier performance (internalization and low-medium newness). The paper further elaborates on how the role of purchasing may change in order to address these challenges.     

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.     

Identifying the moderating influences of external environments on new product development process

Few studies have attempted to investigate the following: (1) whether the firm's core capabilities or resources and routines (e.g., integration among functions) for product development, in the presence of environmental dynamics, become incumbent inertia or core rigidities? and (2) how environmental dynamics affect the influence of a project team's implementation capabilities in the new product development (NPD) process on new product launch performance? This study approaches these questions by addressing the three most indispensable NPD process components (i.e., marketing, technology, and organization) and incorporating new moderators, namely pace of technological change and competitive intensity, within a single study. It specifically examines the extent to which the latter two external environmental variables moderate the impact of NPD practices on new product launch outcome. Data obtained from a survey of NPD projects developed and launched by Korean manufacturers suggest that environmental dynamics would reduce the contribution of functional-specific sources of advantage (resources) and project-specific sources of advantage (e.g., integration among functions) to organizational implementation capabilities (i.e., a project team's proficiency in executing NPD activities). Moreover, the research also shows that market dynamics may increase the contribution of organizational implementation capabilities to NPD project performance.     

The relationship between quality management and new product development: evidence from China

Research suggests that organizations involved in new product development (NPD) can adopt quality management (QM) systems to optimize their NPD processes and thereby build their NPD competence. This paper contributes to a further understanding of the link between QM and NPD by investigating why and how more effective QM can promote and assist NPD. Based on taxonomy of QM practices, we examine the differences between the effects of infrastructure quality management practices (IQMP) and core quality management practices (CQMP) on a firm’s NPD capability and NPD performance. We also incorporate NPD practices in a conceptual model, to examine the integration effects of QM practices and NPD practices. The results show that IQMP significantly promotes NPD capability, while the influence of CQMP on NPD capability is relatively insignificant. Furthermore, our results indicate that the integration of design and manufacturing has a significant negative influence on NPD capability. Our findings highlight the significant role NPD capability plays in explaining the link between QM practices and NPD performance. Our findings also suggest to practitioners that they should integrate QM with other technology management practices in order to optimize their NPD processes.     

The relationship between brokers’ influence, strength of ties and NPD project outcomes in innovation-driven horizontal networks

This paper examines the impact of a broker's perceived use of power – position (i.e., coercive, reward and legitimate) and personal (i.e., expert, information and referent) – on strength of ties between network members and new product development (NPD) project outcomes. Our sample consists of 100 individuals drawn from 42 organizations that were involved in different innovation-driven horizontal networks. The results of structural equation modeling suggest that the perceived use of both personal power bases and position power bases by the broker are positively related to the strength of ties between members. Strength of ties, on the other hand, is positively related to NPD project outcomes of design performance and development time. Finally, results show that the relationships between a broker's use of different power bases and NPD project outcomes are fully mediated by the strength of ties between networks members. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.     

Managing radical product development in large manufacturing firms: a longitudinal study

This study explores and documents the processes by which large manufacturing firms develop and produce radical products. Seven projects from five Fortune 500 firms were analyzed over a 3-year period. Through the use of these case studies, we found common themes emerging in the way these firms manage their new product development (NPD) process in this turbulent environment. Our observations suggest that these high levels of uncertainty result in several unique challenges in developing the project, especially in the areas of managing functional integration and finding a divisional home for the emerging product.     

Bring your suppliers into your projects—Managing the design of work packages in product development

Early supplier involvement and integration is important in product development on strategic as well as on operational, project and team levels. Saab Aerospace intended to achieve early supplier involvement and high level of integration on all levels in the redesign of the aircraft JAS 39 Gripen. The research underlying this article shows that the intended strategy was only achieved on the strategic level and not on the operational project and team levels. One major reason for this was that the design of the work breakdown structure (WBS) and work packages (WP) in the product development followed the functional and departmental logic within each company resulting in incompatible structures and preventing communication and information exchange. This article intends to explore how prevailing functionally designed WBS and WP structures created barriers and to demonstrate how supplier integration can be improved by designing collaborative WBS and integrated WP. The Dependence Structure Matrix (DSM) is introduced in order to analyze, visualize and manage interdependencies and information exchange between Saab Aerospace and its supplier on different levels of the WBS and in different phases of the development process, following the logic of interdependencies and information flow, in order to support a strategy focusing on integration of suppliers on the project and team level.     

Complex New Product Development Projects: How the Project Manager's Information Sharing With Core Actors Changes Over Time

A heavily burdened project manager must ensure effective information sharing with actors inside and outside the organization because this is a necessary condition for a new product development (NPD) project to achieve its objectives. Knowledge, however, on who actually assists a project manager with the information sharing during NPD projects is limited; therefore, this study of longitudinal objective email data (4658 emails) during a NPD project contributes to theory and practice by advancing our understanding of when and how the project manager establishes relationships with different core actors inside and outside the organization to promote the information sharing.     

知识整合视角下新产品开发能力研究

根据国外学者对新产品开发能力的研究,提出了知识整合是提升新产品开发能力的重要途径,从内外部整合两个方面论述了知识整合的内容和知识整合对新产品开发能力作用模式,提出了企业在进行外部知识整合的时候要特别关注利益相关者,在内部整合时要注意广泛地解决问题、进行跨功能整合并构建知识分享的解决方案,指出本领域的未来研究方向。     

Improving sourcing decisions in NPD projects: Monetary quantification of points of difference

During new product development (NPD), firms make critical design and sourcing decisions that determine the new product's cost, performance, competitive position, and profitability. The purchase price of materials and components for the new product provides only part of the picture for design and sourcing decisions. All-encompassing analyses of cost and performance, such as total cost of ownership, are extraordinarily difficult to implement because they are demanding in terms of time, data and cooperation. We study monetary quantification of points of difference, which enables an NPD team to base its decisions instead on more focused, strategically-pertinent analyses of costs and performance. We propose a substantive model of its antecedents and consequences. We then test this model with data from matched samples of 144 project leaders and 144 cost analysts who participated in the same NPD projects. Using structural equation modeling, we also test hypothesized differences in perspectives between project leaders and cost analysts. Results demonstrate the pivotal role of monetary quantification of points of difference among the sourcing alternatives being considered, especially for cost analysts. Results also demonstrate that Decision Justification to senior management drives the NPD team's decision-making process. Finally, monetary quantification of points of difference leads to Uncertainty Reduction, which is found to be the primary antecedent of the judged success of applying analysis of cost and performance.     

客户知识管理能力对新产品开发绩效影响的实证研究

本研究分析客户知识管理能力（CKMC）对新产品开发绩效（NPD绩效）的影响,讨论产品创新程度的调节作用,并探索组织文化和组织结构的驱动作用,提出CKMC对NPD绩效影响的概念模型。最后以制造业为调研对象做实证分析,结果表明：客户知识管理能力对新产品开发绩效具有重要显著影响;在中国背景下,信任和合作的组织文化有助于提升客户知识管理能力和新产品开发绩效;集权化和形式化的组织结构不利于客户知识管理能力的提升,但有利于新产品开发绩效的提高;中国的制造业的产品创新能力亟待提高。     

Collaboration expectation gaps,transparency and integrated NPD performance: A multi-case study

This paper explores the implications of what happens when a buying firm's desired and realized levels of collaboration differ in the context of an integrated new product development (NPD) project. Using analysis of six case studies, we observe varying levels of such collaboration expectation gaps (CEG) and conclude that these gaps can impact NPD project performance. In addition, collaboration transparency is established when a firm and its partner firm comprehend the factors (benefits, risks, costs) that motivate collaboration between them. We observe that the presence of collaboration transparency impacts the emergence of CEG across the phases of an NPD project. These findings extend existing theory on buyer-supplier relationships in NPD projects and introduce CEG and collaboration transparency as important concepts in understanding improved collaboration performance.     

Team vision in product development: How knowledge strategy matters

In today’s more complex multinational and technologically sophisticated environment, the group has re-emerged in importance as the project team. Work teams are important to organizations in general, but are especially critical in product development because they span many functional areas including engineering, marketing, manufacturing, finance, etc., and new product teams must frequently be composed of individuals from different backgrounds and perspectives. In these circumstances, this paper addresses the contingency role that knowledge strategy plays in explaining the relationship between team vision and product development performance. After studying the team vision on 78 new product developments from a wide variety of firms, we found that effective team vision varies depending on the knowledge strategy—defined in terms of punctuated equilibrium in the explorative cycle, low ambidexterity and high ambidexterity. Our results demonstrate that while trade-off is positively associated with success in all strategies, clarity is only associated with low ambidexterity strategies and strategy-fit is only associated with high ambidexterity strategies.     

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.     

How does PLM technology support knowledge transfer and translation in new product development? Transparency and boundary spanners in an international context

Information Technology is often viewed as imposing too much standardization and limiting flexibility in New Product Development (NPD). This paper aims at understanding how the use of Product Lifecycle Management Technology (PLM) contributes to knowledge sharing in an international NPD environment. The research is based on a longitudinal case study of a consumer goods industry group and involved development teams in Europe and local suppliers in China. Knowledge transfer and translation were observed through the reduction of communication glitches among members and increased NPD work with Chinese suppliers. The results of the case study indicate that (1), with an important codification effort, the use of PLM technology resulted in higher data and network transparency and enhanced knowledge transfer; (2) PLM served as a particularly useful tool for knowledge translation especially for boundary spanners in their work relationships. While PLM can be considered the main mechanism for knowledge transfer in this context, the case suggests that knowledge translation requires a boundary spanner intervention and that, with the use of PLM, they reinforce each other. Particularly noteworthy was a positive shift in the boundary spanners' roles from the project leader to the outsourcing engineer. In turn, this unintended consequence reinforced their credibility and the legitimacy of the use of the system with the Chinese suppliers.     

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.     

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.     

Flexible Outsourcing

Flexibility is definitely a key for success and is crucial in vertical relationships. Then, it seems worth analyzing the selection of the optimal degree of vertical integration and/or separation in a dynamic uncertain environment, where a flexible firm can switch from a certain degree of outsourcing back to vertical integration. The enterprise we investigate never throws away the vertical control of the manufacturing chain as it does not outsource the entire input requirement. On the contrary, it keeps the ability to make the intermediate good in‐house as a kind of prudential conduct. Higher uncertainty lets firms enter earlier, as vertical flexibility provides a hedge against risk. After entry, an increase in uncertainty boosts the probability of outsourcing. These results differ from received literature. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

图形设计项目教学的重要性

本文以图形设计教学项目—实物手绘作品为例,从策划项目、撰写策划书、项目小组人员与组名确立、市场调查、各小组确定项目、成品展示等方面进行了详细的阐述,探讨了图形设计项目课程中市场调查的重要性,同时图形设计项目的策划对学生的实操能力展示提供了良好的平台,使得图形设计课程结合设计专业的特点进行教学,充分关注图形设计在现代生活中的应用,更好地培养学生对于图形的实际设计能力。