FACTORS FOR SUCCESS IN RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND NEW PRODUCT INNOVATION - A CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK

There have been many attempts over the last 30 years to discover the c ritical factors that can indicate the success or failure of R&D projec ts and new product introductions, Because of the large number of studi es that currently exist, the authors undertook an extensive review of the germane literature to find whether a general agreement exists abou t the factors leading to success or failure in new product development and R&D projects, The review shows first that even with a conservativ e approach to listing significant factors, the list is very long, Seco nd, comparing the factors across studies demonstrates that different a uthors have found that the magnitude of significance and the direction of influence vary, Third, given the differences in context, the meani ng of similar factors may also vary. The contradictory findings lead u s to propose a contingency framework for the new product and R&D proje ct models. This framework consists of a contingency cube with three co ntextual dimensions. Based on this framework, we propose a set of prop ositions, We conclude this paper with a discussion of the implications of a contingent approach for both researchers and managers in the are a of management of new products and R&D projects.