Emerald Management Review:
Action planning for new product development projects

Abstract:

Purpose - Studies how new product development projects are managed.

Design/methodology/approach - Uses a literature review to identify 54 new product development activities. Investigates how these activities were used in actual new product development projects, presenting two empirical studies - one involving experienced project leaders from four design agencies; the second involving experienced project leaders from 11 design/development company departments. Maps the new product development activities onto actual cases of new product development and discusses the patterns that this reveals.

Findings - Finds that the examination of two new product development projects revealed that only 26-27 activities were used, suggesting that existing models of are much broader than required. Identifies that the project leaders divided the projects according to the complexity of the product and the familiarity of the project, giving four types of new product development projects but reports that only the very simple project type could be differentiated from the rest by looking at the activities involved, the differences between the remaining three categories of project being unclear. Concludes that it is possible to identify the activities associated with a minimal and a regular new product design process. Research limitations/ implications - Describes the research and discusses the implications.

Originality/value - Investigates how new product design projects are carried out in practice.

Keywords:

Article Type:

Research paper

Reference:

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