Xm. Song et Mm. Montoyaweiss, CRITICAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES FOR REALLY NEW VERSUS INCREMENTAL PRODUCTS, The Journal of product innovation management, 15(2), 1998, pp. 124-135
Does the development of really new products require a different approa
ch front that of incremental new products' Current research and manage
ment practice seem to suggest that an), successful new product develop
ment (NPD) process comprises a set of key activities, regardless of a
product's innovativeness. It seems almost foolhardy to suggest that NP
D could proceed without proficiency in all of the following tasks: str
ategic planning, idea development and screening, business and market o
pportunity analysis, technical development, product testing, and produ
ct commercialization. Suggesting that the difference may be in the det
ails, X. Michael Song and Mitzi Monroya-Weiss present the results of a
study that examines the development of 163 really new products and 16
9 incremental new products. The study's objective is to compare the NP
D processes and performance outcomes of really new and incremental pro
ducts. In other words, the study examines the interplay, between a pro
duct's innovativeness, the NPD process, and the product's performance
in the marketplace. For the firms in rite study, four sets of NPD acti
vities-strategic planning, market analysis, technical development, and
product commercialization-are key determinants of new product success
for both really new products and incremental products. However strate
gic planning and business and market opportunity analysis activities p
lay contrasting roles for the two types of products. Working to improv
e proficiency in business and market opportunity analysis may be count
erproductive for really new products, but if cart increase the profita
bility of incremental products. Conversely, improving the proficiency,
of strategic planning activities has a positive effect on the profita
bility of the really new products, but it has a negative effect for th
e incremental products. Overall, the really newt products in the study
surpass the incremental products in meeting profit objectives. Compar
ing current practice to best practice, the firms in the study, have ro
om for improvement. For both really new and incremental products, the
firms in the study do not place sufficient emphasis on product commerc
ialization activities. The participants also need to reassess the rela
tive emphasis they place on strategic planning activities. The project
s involving really new products do not place sufficient emphasis on st
rategic planning, while the incremental projects exhibit a relatively
high level of proficiency in this area-exactly the opposite of the ord
er that this study recommends.