New Product Development Overview

Principles

Definition

New product development is a multidisciplinary research domain and organizational process concerned with the systematic activities involved in bringing novel products or services from initial conception through successful market launch. It investigates the strategies, organizational structures, market dynamics, and internal capabilities that influence the efficiency, effectiveness, and outcomes of innovation processes, serving as a fundamental driver of competitive advantage and sustainable growth for organizations.

Ontological type

Core Processes

Organizational Structures

Strategic Objectives

Key developments

Key Figures

User-Led Modularity era

Eric von Hippel[1] was based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology[2] and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne[3] during the User-Led Modularity era (1984–1997). He advanced the formalization of lead-user methods that channel extreme-user needs into structured ideation, as embodied in Lead Users: A Source of Novel Product Concepts[4], a contribution that broadened the source of innovative concepts and supported faster, more user-centered development. In 1994, the paper Sticky Information and the Locus of Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation[5] highlighted how knowledge is context-bound and difficult to transfer, a finding that underpinned the design of modular architectures and distributed development to sustain rapid iteration. Together, Lead Users: A Source of Novel Product Concepts[4] and Sticky Information and the Locus of Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation[5] illustrate how the era linked external insights with modular design to accelerate iteration and coordinate distributed development.

Boundary-Spanning Knowledge era

Ammon Salter [1] is associated with Imperial College London [3] and the University of Sussex [4] during this era. His key contribution, as reflected in Open for innovation: the role of openness in explaining innovation performance among U.K. manufacturing firms [7], is to show how openness fosters innovation performance through boundary-spanning knowledge transfer, reducing interface frictions and enabling cross-firm learning. Keld Laursen [2] is associated with Aalborg University [5] and Copenhagen Business School [6] during this era. His key contribution, via the same 2005 paper [7], advanced open-innovation perspectives by analyzing openness as a driver of performance and illustrating boundary-spanning learning between firms, which was important for NPD boundary-spanning knowledge during 1998-2011.

Ecosystem-Embedded Innovation era

Michael E. Porter [1] is associated with Harvard University [3] and Boston University [4] during the Ecosystem-Embedded Innovation era (2012–2024), and his 2014 paper How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition [7] outlines foundational ideas about connected products reshaping competition. His contributions in this era point to a shift toward platform-enabled ecosystems and data-driven service models, where smart products enable rapid co-creation and value capture across partners, as argued in How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition [7]. Morteza Ghobakhloo [2] is associated with Uppsala University [5] and Universiti Putra Malaysia [6] during this era, and his 2018 paper The future of manufacturing industry: a strategic roadmap toward Industry 4.0 [8] lays out a framework for digital manufacturing and ecosystem integration. This Industry 4.0 roadmap [8], as articulated in The future of manufacturing industry: a strategic roadmap toward Industry 4.0 [8], contributes to ecosystem-embedded NPD by promoting cyber-physical systems, modular architectures, and data-driven decision making that enable rapid iteration and external co-creation across networks.