SUCCESS FACTORS OF NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES

Developing new products is difficult but vital for organizations to succeed. This paper examines the critical factors of new product development and the influence of each of these factors on product development outcomes. This investigation involved a literature search and the findings are presented as a matrix of citations that identifies which of the product development components of product performance, speed, and development costs is enhanced by the key success factors of cross-functional teams, upper-management support, and a supportive organizational structure. Findings indicate that all three key success factors are necessary for a successful product development process and may not be used cafeteria style where a firm selects which to apply to projects. This is the first research to suggest that sponsors of project development teams must give each of the process key success factors a high priority to improve the probability of a successful product development effort.