PERSPECTIVE: First, fast, and on time: The path to success. Or is it?

To be competitive, and become the industry leader the firm needs to be fast , first, and on time, or so the story goes. Fast development cycle times, f irst to market, and schedule predictability are the three basic principles of new product development performance, but what does the evidence actually show? A review of current research, schedule performance data, and cycle t ime data shows that following these principles does not necessarily lead to success. Recent studies indicate that being first to market is not necessa rily any better than being second third, or even fifth. Several leading com panies in the fast cycle time movement are rethinking their first-to-market strategy, and some are deliberately lengthening their cycle times. Finally , the correlation between schedule accuracy and business results is practic ally nonexistent in the product lines reviewed for this article. The eviden ce found while researching this article has led the authors to recast these three traditional principles into three new marker-focused guiding princip les: effective market introduction timing, first to mindshare, and managed responsiveness. To provide direction in applying these three principles, th ree types of market windows are defined: imposed, controllable, and emergen t. How one approaches each of the three guiding principles is driven by whi ch type of market window the organization is operating within, and other bu siness characteristics, such as market position and the ability to differen tiate, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.