R&D activity

The launch of new products and the adherent marketing activities has been the object of the R&D activity for more than ten years. As a result of this R&D activity several publications, research papers and articles have been published (more infor from here):

The newest object of the R&D activity is the R&D process itself. The objective is to find out together with Dr. Sanjay Mishra from the University of Kansas what rae the factors the differentiate the successful R&D project from an unsuccesful one. The project is part of an international research project, in which the China, Korea and Canada part projects have been done. You can download the reserach plan in pdf-format from here.

If you are responsible for the marketing function in a technology company, you can participate in the study by responding to a questionnaire here.

Research plan

The Factors Affecting New Product Success: Cross Country Comparisons: Case Finland- research project
Dr. Matti J. Haverila

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Outline of the research
2.1. Scope, purpose, methodology and objectives of the research project
2.2. Outline of the research
2.2.1. Research design
2.2.2. Choice of methodology

3. New product development process (NPDP)
3.1. New product development process
3.2. Factors affecting the success of new products

4. Schedule of the research

1. Introduction

The development and introduction of new products to the marketplace are vital to corporate profitability and growth. The companies most successful in carrying out these activities use approaches and techniques that, although only slightly different from those employed by their less successful competitors, result in significant performance advantage.

Booz, Allen & Hamilton Inc. 1982

Product development process is a long and tedious process. It starts from idea generation and hopefully ends with a successful launch into the market place. There has been put much emphasis in Finland on the product development. Technology and research regarding new products play a significant role in the Finnish economy. The amount of research done and the funds used for research both in the private and public sector in relation to the size of Finnish economy has increased steadily during last 30 years and currently stands around 3.5% of GNP. This is one of the highest figures in OECD countries. Research in fact is a major competitive factor for Finland. Thus it is absolutely essential that the research process is efficient and as much as possible is known of all the factors affecting the success and failure of the various research projects done.

It has been evidenced in many studies that the meaning of R&D and the continuous introduction of new products is extremely important for the prosperity of companies. The meaning of new products seems to be growing from the profitability point of view.

2. Outline of the research

2.1. Scope, purpose, methodology and objectives of the research project

There has been quite a bit research done regarding the factors affecting the success and failure of new products. Comparative data between various parts of the world in this regard is, however, lacking. The scope of this research is to investigate the factors that affect the new product success irrespective of the industry where the New Product Development (NPD) is done.

The purpose is to join an international research initiative, in which research will be done in various parts of the world regarding the success and failure of new products. The following sections of the research have already been completed: China, South Korea and Canada. Finland will join the initiative as the first European country. Other countries will follow the suite. Also comparisons to the earlier studies will be done.
The methodology of study is to use a questionnaire consisting of approximately 80 statements developed by R.G. Cooper. Commercial successes and failures will be compared. When determining the sample, the information sources of Statistics Finland will be used.

The objectives of the research project are to gain more in-depth practical knowledge regarding the factors that affect the success and failure of new product development process. Also comparisons to other countries should increase the understanding in this regard.

2.2. Outline of the research

2.2.1. Research design

This research uses the research design in which the event under research is described and then hypotheses are produced to explain it. The objective of the nomotetic approach based on positivism is within the scope of the research sampling frame to look for correlations describing relationships between properties. The goal is primarily to show causal or at least correlative relationships. Sampling frame is collected from a wide population and it will be dealt with statistical methods. The results are statistical averages and other statistical measures and thus an individual company might be totally different from the average company.

2.2.2. Choice of methodology

This research includes conducting a direct mail survey using a question-naire. The questionnaire also includes questions regarding the size of the business unit, its' products, the proportion of R&D of sales, sales to foreign markets and the background of the respondent.

To test some of the hypothesis it is necessary to divide the sample population into two different groups. The division will be done as follows. Every other respondent will be asked to answer the questionnaire as far as their successful product launches are concerned and every other respondent will be asked to answer the questionnaire as far as their unsuccessful product launches are concerned.

Figure 1. The structure of the research.

3. New product development process

“Managing a business superbly starts with developing products the public wants.”
Booz, Allen & Hamilton

3.1. New product development process

New product development is one of the riskiest, yet very important, endeavors of the modern corporation. Managing new product development successfully re-quires a commonly applied, disciplined process that is consistently used and under-stood by all managers. Companies use a variety of approaches to develop new products. According to the researches of Booz, Allen & Hamilton and Thomas D. Kuczmarski, the new product development process can be presented in 10-step model, which identifies the activities performed in bringing new product ideas to the market-place.

Figure 2. The new product development process.

Robert G. Cooper has developed the generic stage-gate new product development process. Cooper’s stage-gate system breaks the new product project into discrete and identifiable stages, typically four, five or six in number, depending on the company or division. Each stage is designed to gather information needed to progress the project to the next gate or decision point. Each stage is multifunctional and consists of a set of parallel activities from different functional areas within the company. A stage-gate system is both a conceptual and operational model for moving a new product from idea to launch.

Figure 3. A generic stage-gate new product process by Cooper.

3.2. Factors affecting the success of new products

There has been completed a number of research projects concerning the success of new products. The perhaps most well known are the studies by Booz, Allen and Hamilton, the Conference Board, Cooper and Kleinschmidt as well as de Brentani. The findings can be summarized as follows:

Table 1. Correlates of New Product Success.

4. Schedule of the research

The research will be conducted according to the following timetable:

Table 2. The schedule of the research.