Why some new products are morel, successful than others

Product innovation is increasingly valued as a key component of the sustain able success of a business's operations. As a result, there has been a noti ceable increase in the number of studies directed at explicating the driver s of new product success. To help managers and researchers synthesize this growing body of evidence, the authors conduct a meta-analysis of the new pr oduct performance literature. Of the 24 predictors of new product performan ce investigated, product advantage, market potential, meeting customer need s, predevelopment task proficiencies, and dedicated resources, on average, have the most significant impact on new product performance. The authors al so find that the predictor-performance relationships can vary by measuremen t factor (e.g., the use of multi-item scales, subjective versus objective m easures of performance, senior versus project management reporting, time el apsed since product introduction) or contextual factor (e.g., services vers us goods, Asian versus North American markets, competition in high-technolo gy versus low-technology markets). They discuss the implications of these f indings and offer directions for further research.