MEASURING NEW PRODUCT SUCCESS - THE DIFFERENCE THAT TIME PERSPECTIVE MAKES

Management is often criticized for overemphasizing short-term profits at the expense of long-term growth. On the other hand, although numero us studies have explored the factors underlying new product success an d failure, such studies rarely distinguish between short- and long-ter m success. Infact, little research has been conducted to explore the r elationship between a company's time perspective and its choice of-cri teria for measuring new product success. For that matter, little conse nsus exists as to just what we mean by the term success.Expanding on w ork done by a PDMA task force on measurement of new product success an d failure, Erik Jan Hultink and Henry S.J. Robben identify 16 core mea sures of new product success. In a survey of large Dutch companies, th ey explore managers' perceptions of new product success, hypothesizing that the importance attached to each of the 16 core measures depends on the company's time perspective. For example, they propose that crit eria such as development cost and speed-to-market are more important i n the short term, and return-on-investiment (ROI) is more important in the long term. The study also examines the type of market sewed, the innovation strategy, and the perceived innovativeness of the company,' s products. It is hypothesized that the-se factors will influence the importance the company attaches to the core measures of new product su ccess. For example, it is expected that speed-to-market is probably mo re important for technological innovators than for fast imitators or c ost minimizers. The findings support the hypothesis that the firm's ti me perspective influences the perceived importance of the core measure s of success. For the short term, the respondents emphasize product-le vel measures such as speed-to-market and whether the product was launc hed on time. In the long term, the focus is on customer acceptance and financial performance, including attaining goals for profitability, m argins, and ROI. Four factors are perceived as being equally important for short-term and long-term success: customer satisfaction, customer acceptance, meeting quality guidelines, and product performance level . Customer satisfaction was found to be the most important measure, re gardless of a company's time perspective. Contrary to expectations, th e perceived importance of the 16 core measures does not differ on the basis of the type of market, the innovation strategy, or the product's perceived innovativeness. In addition, the firm's functional orientat ion-technology push or market pull-does not affect the importance atta ched to the core measures of new product success.