The domain of New Product Development (NPD) is subject to considerable uncertainties.However, companies are required to manage the innovation process as efficiently as possible.The resulting conflicting demands often leave companies struggling to achieve both,efficiency as well as flexibility...

is explored. Our conceptual model is based on the information-processing perspective. A structualequation model was fitted to data from 497 NPD projects from Japanese mechanical and electricalengineering firms to test the proposed model.The empirical analysis found support for all hypotheses...

In this paper we report on the results of an interview research about new product development (NPD) processes and planning in 15 Japanese mechanical and electrical engineering companies. We asked the companies to describe one successful and one less successful project. All in all, we collected...

Manufacturers usually benefit by dividing their innovation processes into distinct phases inorder to ensure that the development activities are performed efficiently in an appropriatesequence [1]. Users usually do not apply such structured processes. They follow a moreintuition-driven approach....

Die Entwicklung innovativer Produkte wird für Unternehmen in einem zunehmendenWettbewerb immer wichtiger. Insbesondere Innovationen mit einem hohen Neuigkeitsgrad,so genannte „Breakthroughs“ bieten einem Unternehmen die Möglichkeit, sich von seinenWettbewerbern nachhaltig abzusetzen.Zu...

In this paper, we report on the results of a large-scale study about typical front-end-related innovation practices in 553 Japanese mechanical and electrical engineering companies. We explore typical activities concerning the generation and assessment of new product ideas, the reduction of...

Analogies can trigger breakthrough ideas in new product development. Numerous examples demonstratethat substantial innovations often result from transferring problem solutions from one industry ordomain to another. For instance, the designers of the new running shoe generation of Nike,...

In a study of New Product Development (NPD) projects, the fuzzy front end ofinnovation is explored. The New Product Development process is a multistageprocess. Therefore, the study examines two sorts of impact that the fuzzy front endhas on the success of New Product Development: a direct impact...

Our study focuses on the question, whether users should be intensively involved in the innovation process of radical product innovations or better not – from the manufacturer’s perspective. Radical innovations incorporate new technologies, shift market structures, require intensive user...

In this paper, we report the complete and unabridged results of an exploratory study oftypical front-end activities in 28 innovation projects in German and Japanesecompanies. We further reveal differences in the practice of innovation management inboth countries. Based on these, we develop first...