IMPLEMENTING THE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Much discussion in the new product development (NPD) literature is con cerned with describing blueprints for more effective systems for manag ing the process. Features of the emergent pattern of good practice in NPD include cross-functional team working, early involvement, effectiv e project management arrangements and learning systems. However, there is relatively little in the literature on the implementation question ; how a particular organisation can articulate and embed the necessary behaviour patterns and accompanying structures and processes needed t o make good-practice NPD work for them. This paper reports on a case s tudy of an electronics firm designing and implementing a new NPD syste m. in particular, it emphasises the organisational development process es required to implement and develop ownership of the system. The pape r concludes with some comments on transferring this approach to other organisations, and on research issues arising from the experience. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.