Success Factors in Product Innovation: A Selective Review of the Literature

In today's increasingly competitive climate, more and more managers are having to update themselves on the range of factors that determine product innovation success. Such successes can be measured at the project (product) level or at the program level. Axel Johne and Patricia Snelson have prepared a review of factors associated with achieving success in a high proportion of recently developed new products.The authors address practical questions, such as the following: To what extent can product innovation be planned? Should development tasks be scheduled sequentially or in parallel? What is the proper degree of formality in effective new product decision making? What are the optimal organizational arrangements?The article concentrates on recent writings, drawing chiefly from journal articles published after 1980, including a large number from the Journal of Product Innovation Management. Factors contributing to success are ordered according to the now well-known McKinsey 7 Ss framework popularized by Peters and Waterman in their book In Search of Excellence. Detailed development tasks are considered according to the schema advanced by Crawford in his book New Products Management.