Lean Product Development: Nothing New Under the Sun?

The concept of lean product development has attracted the attention of many scholars since its inception in the 1990s derived from practices at Toyota Motor Company. Key to this approach to new product development (NPD) are a few methods derived from lean production as well as longer established practices such as concurrent engineering. This makes one wonder whether lean product development is a new practice, a new method or an encapsulation of already existing methods at the time; this quest for the roots and tenets of lean product development, also in comparison with other methods for NPD, is the focus of this paper. This journey takes this propositional paper not only to the roots of lean product development and the context of its era of conception, but also to what this concept adds to other extant methods for NPD. In particular, this comparison draws out that other methods are trying to achieve the same objectives: the creation of products and services with value to the customer, the reduction of time‐to‐market and the efficient use of resources. This inference implies that managers of new product (and service) development can choose from a wider pallet of methods and approaches to enhance the performance of R&D and to connect better to manufacturing (including supply chains). Inevitably, this has implications for research on (lean) product and service development; hence, this paper sets out a research agenda based on the deliberations and gaps that have been uncovered in the discourse.     

Success Factors of New Product Development: A Review of the Empirical Literature

The continuous development and market introduction of new products can be an important determinant of sustained company performance. For approximately 30 years, conceptual and empirical research has been undertaken to identify the critical success factors of new products. This paper reviews the findings of empirical work into the success factors of new product development (NPD). It is the prime objective of this work to summarize the most important findings in a compact and structured way. In addition, shortcomings of previous empirical work on NPD success factors will be discussed and suggestions for improvement in future empirical NPD studies will be made.     

The joint effects of customer participation in various new product development stages

The notion that customers provide distinct inputs that help tackle unique tasks in each new product development (NPD) phase leads firms to engage customers concurrently in various NPD stages rather than involving them only in one NPD stage. Involving customers in diverse NPD stages is based on the belief that the constructive effects of customer participation in each NPD phase could be supplementary. However, little is known about the joint effects of embracing customers in multiple NPD stages such as whether customer participation in a certain NPD stage enlarges or undermines the returns of customer participation in another NPD stage, and whether customer participation throughout the entire NPD process is really beneficial. Drawing upon the knowledge management perspective, this research investigates in which combination of NPD stages (ideation, development, and launch) engaging customers creates a synergistic or destructive impact on new product market performance. The results reveal that involving customers in both ideation and development stages and in both development and launch stages yields synergistic returns, whereas customer participation in both ideation and launch stages does not create any additional gains. Furthermore, customer participation across all three NPD stages does not improve new product market performance beyond the sole and joint effects of customer participation in two NPD stages. These noteworthy findings imply that the joint effects of customer participation do not always lead to synergistic impacts and depend on the value of customer knowledge and the difficulty of knowledge management of transferring and integrating customer knowledge gathered in various NPD stages. In a certain combination of NPD stages, where the difficulty of knowledge management becomes higher, customer participation cannot generate supplementary returns, and thus, firms can achieve a similar level of new product market performance with customer participation in limited NPD stages.     

供应商早期参与制造企业新产品开发的实证研究:供应商视角

供应商早期参与制造企业新产品的开发作为一种新型的合作模式,可以使合作双方获益。本文从供应商的角度,分析了供应商早期参与制造企业新产品开发的关键因素,并用实证研究的方法验证了这些因素对供应商早期参与新产品开发的影响路径。     

网络环境下客户参与对产品开发绩效的影响研究-以我国软件企业为例

本研究以网络环境为背景,回顾了客户参与和产品开发绩效方面的研究成果.根据对中国软件企业的调查结果,利用结构方程模型(SEM),分析了客户网上参与和产品开发绩效之间的关系.研究发现:虚拟客户参与平台(VCE)的设计特征、客户知识管理能力、客户网上参与强度都对产品开发绩效有直接正向影响;虚拟客户参与平台的设计特征还通过客户网上参与强度、客户知识管理能力对产品开发绩效有间接正向影响,而客户特性和产品开发绩效之间关系不显著.研究结论为提高企业产品开发绩效提供了实践指导意义.     

Technology‐Based New Product Development Partnerships*

Hypotheses were developed to capture the dynamic capabilities that result from interfirm partnerships during the joint new product development (NPD) process—the ability to build, integrate, and reconfigure existing resources to adapt to rapidly changing environments. These capabilities, in turn, were proposed to have a positive impact on NPD performance outcomes: (a) proportion of new product success and (b) superior new product commercialization. In contexts where the locus of innovation is rapidly changing, the impact of interfirm NPD dynamic capabilities was hypothesized to be diminished in high‐technology contexts, especially for buyers (original equipment manufacturers) and to a lesser extent for suppliers. Still, technology‐based interfirm NPD partnerships were predicted to ultimately outperform low‐technology ones in both NPD performance outcomes. Finally, information technology (IT) support for NPD was hypothesized to influence the interfirm NPD partnership's dynamic capabilities. Using survey data from 72 auto company managers and their suppliers, the proposed model in which IT support for NPD influences the success of interfirm NPD partnerships through the mediating role of interfirm NPD partnership dynamic capabilities in high‐ and low‐technology contexts was generally supported. The results shed light on the nature of technology‐based interfirm NPD partnerships and have implications for their success. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Supplier Opportunism in Buyer–Supplier New Product Development: A China‐U.S. Study of Antecedents,Consequences, and Cultural/Institutional Contexts

Collaborating with a supplier in a buying firm's new product development (NPD) project is commonly advocated and adopted, but does not always improve project performance. Some pre‐existing collaboration contexts, such as buyer–supplier NPD projects, are especially exposed to supplier opportunism due to the uncertain nature of the collaboration process. Adopting agency theory and transaction cost theory perspectives, we examine: (i) contextual antecedents and project consequences of supplier opportunism and (ii) if these causal influences vary in different cultural and institutional contexts. Using a survey sample of 214 United States (U.S.) and 212 Chinese buying firms’ responses about buyer–supplier NPD projects, we find that supplier opportunism is significantly influenced by the task and relational contexts. We also show that supplier opportunism damages both design quality and efficiency, two aspects of project performance. When comparing U.S. to China, we find that task and relational contexts have a greater impact on supplier opportunism in the U.S., but design efficiency is less hurt by supplier opportunism there. Finally, we show challenges of preventing supplier opportunism in certain NPD collaboration contexts, and offer solutions for overcoming these challenges.     

数据驱动的产品研发转型：组织惯例适应性变革视角的案例研究

现有研究多聚焦于大数据对产品研发流程与绩效的影响,对基于经验的产品研发转变为数据驱动的产品研发的转型路径、实现机制与转型范式缺乏理论探讨。本文基于组织惯例适应性变革的整合视角,通过对韩都衣舍的纵向案例研究,提出从基于经验的产品研发转变为数据驱动的产品研发的两阶段转型模型,剖析了数据驱动的产品研发转型的组织惯例适应性变革机制,提出了数据驱动的产品研发转型范式理论模型,对"数据驱动"的内涵进行了创新性阐述。本文从转型路径、实现机制与转型范式3个方面构建了数据驱动的产品研发转型理论,研究结论对数字经济时代数据驱动产品创新的企业实践提供了政策启示。     

中小企业新产品开发关键成功因素的识别及其实证研究

创新对于公司绩效的重要性引致了许多关于识别新产品开发成功因素的研究。然而,这些研究的大部分都是针对发达经济或是大型企业的;对于中小企业在新兴市场中如何开发新产品研究则相对较少。这篇论文试图分析中国中小企业新产品开发的成功因素以弥补这一研究的空缺。不同于传统的分析方法将新产品开发的每一阶段的成功因素都认为是同质的,我们对于新产品开发过程的每个阶段的成功因素从管理的角度来进行审视。我们发现我国中小企业在创意设想阶段并不将经济回报作为首要标准。虽然各成功因素的相对重要性在不同阶段会有所不同,技术、营销、商业性、管理等因素在所有阶段都是重要的。这个结果对于中小企业在新产品开发的各个阶段如何开发和管理新产品有一定的启示作用。     

Coopetition in New Product Development Alliances: Advantages and Tensions for Incremental and Radical Innovation

Coopetition (collaboration between competitors) can facilitate product innovation, but there is still debate about how it is suited to radical or incremental innovation. This paper argues that the early and later phases of coopetitive new product development (NPD) pose different benefits and risks for the innovation types. Building on the tensions approach to value creation and appropriation, we develop a series of hypotheses on the role of coopetition in NPD alliances and focal firm's innovation output. The hypotheses are tested on a quantitative data set of 1049 NPD alliances in the German medical and machinery sectors. The results show that, while coopetition is advantageous for incremental innovation in both pre‐launch and launch phases, radical innovation benefits from coopetition in the launch phase only.     

Towards an integrative framework of innovation network for new product development project

The increasing complexity of product and radical changing environment lead companies towards innovation network (IN) collaboration. Although recent researches highlight the importance and benefits of innovation network (IN) to new product development (NPD), this subject is still developing and it has the potential to expand into new dimensions. However, there is a significant lack in the literature regarding holistic, systematic and integrated framework when it comes to manipulating the challenge of true NPD projects. The current researches mainly focus on the strategy level which provides less application guidance for NPD. Thus, in this work, the authors propose an integrative framework of innovation network for NPD based on the literature review. In addition, a case study of new refrigerator development reveals the feasibility and potentials of the overall framework to its broad usage in industry.     

Structuring Supplier Involvement in New Product Development: A China–U.S. Study

Buying and supplying organizations rely on each other for developing better products in an efficient manner, which explains the popularity of involving suppliers in new product development (NPD). However, such involvement is not always successful, partially due to the challenges of structuring a buyer–supplier team to manage joint dependence and dependence asymmetry. This study adopts an organizational dependence view to examine how three types of intergroup structures—administrative (formalization and centralization), task (task interdependence), and physical (colocation)—influence project performance and buyer learning in NPD projects. Furthermore, adopting a contingency theory perspective, we study whether the national context moderates the effects of intergroup structures on project outcomes. We adopt a two‐group structural equation modeling approach to test hypotheses with survey responses from a sample of NPD projects in the United States (US) and China. Results show different ways in which intergroup structures influence project performance and buyer learning in the two culturally, economically, and institutionally distinct countries. We discuss the implications of these new findings and present directions for future research.     

大股东对经理人信任、控制机制与企业新产品开发绩效的实证研究

分析大股东对经理人信任如何影响企业新产品开发绩效,并对比不同控制方式下,信任对新产品开发影响的差异。基于150家制造企业的实证研究表明,大股东对经理人越信任,越有利于企业新产品开发绩效的提高;大股东对经理人信任通过促进企业家导向,间接作用于企业新产品开发绩效;财务控制倒U型调节信任与新产品开发之间的关系;战略控制正向调节信任与企业家导向之间的关系。     

A Hierarchical Product Development Planning Framework

Uncertainty in new product development (NPD) planning embraces market, creative, technological, and process dimensions to a much greater extent than in non‐NPD project planning. Yet, NPD management is becoming increasingly decentralized, both within the firm and across the supply chain. Hence, planning for NPD uncertainty often results in path‐dependent scenarios cutting across the strategic, tactical, and operational levels of planning. To coordinate this resulting complexity, we propose a stochastic hierarchical product development planning framework with multiple recourses, i. e., corrective actions, to maximize performance across a firm's entire NPD program. We also argue the necessity for a fourth planning level, the infrastructural, that reestablishes norms for market projections, technological forecasts, scheduling, and requirements as latent uncertainty in the environment is continually revealed. An illustration from the automotive industry is presented to demonstrate a deployment of our framework. We additionally discuss the applicability of this framework for managing NPD capabilities over time.     

The moderating effect of product complexity on new product development and supply chain management integration

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether product complexity moderates the impact of integration programs in both new product development (NPD) and supply chain (SC) management on operational performance. Results are based on statistical analyses of data collected from an international sample of manufacturing firms through the fifth edition of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS 5). The main findings are that NPD and SC integration do have an impact on performance, while product complexity alone has not. When considering the moderating effect, complexity has no impact on NPD integration, while there is a negative moderating impact on SC integration. This study bridges together different streams of research, showing how both NPD and SC integration allow managing product complexity while improving performance.     

The Differential and Contingent Impact of Concurrency on New Product Development Project Performance: A Holistic Examination*

This article comprehensively examines how the four facets of new product development (NPD) concurrency, consisting of process and product concurrency groupings, influence NPD project performance under the five contextual conditions of (i) location of product in family stream, (ii) project size, (iii) stage in the product life cycle, (iv) innovativeness of the product, and (v) predictability of market demand. Using data from a large sample of NPD projects in multiple industries, there is support for this hypothesized four‐faceted structure of concurrency, consisting of process and product concurrency groupings, thereby contributing new knowledge to the concurrency literature. All four facets of concurrency display a contingent impact on NPD project performance, even though individual effects vary according to the specific contextual variable under consideration. In particular, the process concurrency facet of dynamic iterative routines was universally effective across all five contextual variables, while the product concurrency facet of cross‐functional coordination was effective in significantly influencing at least one NPD project measure. This article also reports similar, but less strong, contingency patterns, with respect to the process concurrency facet of the implementation of downstream coordination and the product concurrency facet of the use of computer‐based integrated design tools. Theoretical and practical implications of our results are also offered.     

知识管理过程对新产品开发绩效的影响研究

知识管理是高动荡外部环境下影响新产品开发成败的决定性因素,本文构建了知识管理过程对新产品开发绩效影响的理论模型,研究了知识管理的基本过程及其对新产品开发绩效的影响,并考察了产品创新性和环境动荡性的调节作用。利用来自中国十一个省市206个新产品开发项目的问卷调查数据进行实证分析。研究结果表明知识获取和知识整合对新产品开发绩效具有显著影响,环境动荡性正向调节知识获取、创造、整合与新产品开发绩效关系,而知识创造对新产品开发绩效的影响不显著,产品创新性对知识获取、创造、整合与新产品开发绩效之间关系的调节影响均不显著。     

Collaborative Product Development: The Effect of Project Complexity on the Use of Information Technology Tools and New Product Development Practices

Collaboration is an essential element of new product development (NPD). This research examines the associations between four types of information technology (IT) tools and NPD collaboration. The relationships between NPD practices and NPD collaboration are also examined. Drawing on organizational information processing theory, we propose that the relationships between IT tools and NPD collaboration will be moderated differently by three project complexity dimensions, namely, product size, project novelty, and task interdependence, due to the differing nature of information processing necessitated by each project complexity dimension. Likewise, the moderation effects of the project complexity dimensions on the relationship between NPD practices and NPD collaboration will also be different. We test our hypotheses using data from a sample of NPD projects in three manufacturing industries. We find that IT tools are associated with collaboration to a greater extent when product size is relatively large. In contrast, IT tools exhibit a smaller association with collaboration when project novelty or task interdependence is relatively high. NPD practices are found to be more significantly associated with NPD collaboration under the contingency of high project novelty or high task interdependence. The findings provide insights about circumstances where several popular IT tools are more likely to facilitate collaboration, thus informing an NPD team's IT adoption and use decisions.     

研发/制造/营销跨职能整合与新产品开发：产品创新性的差异效应研究

本文考察了研发/制造/营销跨职能整合的前端驱动要素及跨职能整合对新产品开发绩效的提升机制。结果表明：联合创新激励、高层管理者支持、产品开发正式化和产品开发动态性是增强跨职能整合有效性的重要前因变量,跨职能整合提升了产品线协同和新产品开发绩效,产品线协同和新产品开发有助于增加企业市场绩效,而产品创新战略则在以上路径关系间发挥了差异效应影响。当企业开发低创新性产品时,高层管理者支持和产品开发正式化对跨职能整合的驱动效应以及产品线协同对企业市场绩效的促进作用要更大,而当企业开发高创新性产品时,联合创新激励和产品开发动态性对跨职能整合的正向影响以及研发/制造/营销跨职能整合对产品线协同和新产品开发绩效的驱动效应则更为显著。