Learning Is the Critical Success Factor in Developing Truly New Products

Abstract

OVERVIEW:Successful new product development is tough, especially for truly new products. How can a company successfully develop and commercialize such products? An examination of four radically new innovations—Corning's optical fibers, GE's computed axial tomography, Motorola's cellular telephones, and Searle's (now Monsanto's) NutraSweet—reveals that in each case a learning-driven strategy was critical to success. Leaders who wish to improve their company's ability to develop the kind of products that can create entirely new industries are urged to create conditions under which teams can learn from past experience, even failures.