Description
Dissertation paper in Sheffield Management School.
Contents
Acknowledgement
Abstract
Chapter1. Introduction..................................................................................................3
1.1 Background of the study......................................................................................3
1.2 Background of the company................................................................................5
1.3 esearch !b"ecti#e...............................................................................................$
1.% esearch &uestion................................................................................................$
Chapter.2 'iterature e#iew.........................................................................................(
2.1 )ew *roduct +e#elopment ,)*+-.......................................................................(
2.1.1 Continuous and +iscontinuous inno#ation....................................................
2.1.2 /tages of )*+.............................................................................................10
2.2 /mall to medium si1ed enterprises ,/23s-.......................................................1.
Chapter 3. esearch 2ethodology..............................................................................22
3.1 Choice of esearch Approach............................................................................22
3.1.1 +educti#e or Inducti#e Approach...............................................................22
3.1.2 &ualitati#e or &uantitati#e data..................................................................23
3.2 Choice of esearch /trategy..............................................................................23
3.3 +ata Collection...................................................................................................2%
3.% 2ethodology in *ractice....................................................................................25
Chapter %. Analysis of the Case /tudy........................................................................2(
%.1 4antt Chart.........................................................................................................2(
%.2 5hematic Analysis..............................................................................................31
Chapter 5. Conclusions...............................................................................................%2
eferences....................................................................................................................%%
Appendi67I8 36cerpts from dairy7 /elf reflection
Appendi67II8 36cerpts from e7mail communications
Appendi67III8 36cerpts from inter#iews
Appendi67I98 *ro"ect briefs
Table of Figures
:igure 1.5ypes of *roduct Inno#ations;..........................................................................
:igure 2.5he classical model of )*+..........................................................................13
:igure 3.4antt chart of the stages of )*+ in the case.................................................2.
:igure %.Comparison of the stages of )*+ as witnessed in the case with that in theory
......................................................................................................................................30
:igure 5.elati#e pre#alence of different themes and meta7themes in the collected
data...............................................................................................................................35
:igure $.elati#e dominance of different meta7themes in the collected data..............35
:igure new products are considered to be the ?lifeblood of an organi1ation@
,Armstrong and Aotler> 200 1.(5-. 2oreo#er> de#eloping on its own is not the only source of de#eloping
a new product for a company. AcBuiring a new product from another company has
been a popular source used by #arious organi1ations. Crawford and Benedetto ,200(-
ha#e discussed the concept of *roduct Inno#ation Charter ,*IC-. 5his is a document
produced by the senior management of an organi1ation to pro#ide guidance to the
business units on the role of inno#ation. 5his highlights the strategic importance of a
defined process of managing the product inno#ation. 2any times> we find that the
strategic need of introducing a new product might not be backed up by the core
capability ,2eyer and Ctterback> 1..3- reBuired to produce that product for the
company. AcBuisition or licensing can be a better strategy to introduce the new
product in such circumstances. Boo1 DAllen E Familton Inc ,1.$(- suggested a si67
stage process for new product de#elopment ,)*+- through acBuisition. 5he first two
~ 3 ~
steps were similar to the one they suggested for the si67stage in7house de#elopment of
new products> but differed in the last four steps. 5hese ha#e been discussed in detail in
the literature re#iew in Chapter 2.
)ew product de#elopment has generated a lot of interest among researchers because
of the low success rate ,Assael> 1.(5; 3#ans and Berman> 1.. 200$; Gobber> 200 he suggested a four to
se#en stage process depending on the company or the di#ision. /e#eral other
researchers ha#e defined the new product de#elopment process in terms of stages.
!ne popular model used by Aotler and Aeller ,200.- considers this to be an eight7step
process. It describes how the new product idea is concei#ed at the first place and then
gets refined till it becomes a concept and is tested before business analysis is done.
5hen the prototype is de#eloped for market testing to ensure that the final product
launched in the market place becomes a result of a planned effort backed up by a
rigorous process. 3#en though> a few #ariations e6ist in the stages defined by #arious
researchers> most of the stages are common across different studies published in this
domain. esearchers ha#e associated the significance of following these stages as a
tool that can help companies to mitigate the high risk of new product failures
,Brassington and *ettitt> 200$-. Fowe#er> Hind and 2aha"an ,1.. new product
de#elopment process> as reflected in academic literature has undergone insignificant
change since 1. these ha#e been further categorised into
2edium> /mall and 2icro enterprises. /23s ha#e been credited with ma"or
inno#ati#e product ideas. Fowe#er> many of these ideas do not result in commercial
success. Barnes ,2002- commented that the strategic planning often seems
~ 4 ~
inappropriate in the dynamic en#ironments that /23s often e6perience. Fe stressed
the significance of inno#ation> fle6ibility and responsi#eness in such situations for
their sur#i#al. /23s are characteri1ed by resource constraints in terms of their access
to finance and Bualified management team ,:reel> 2000-. 5he o#erpowering presence
of the owner manager in the decision making has also been highlighted in se#eral
literatures and is co#ered in detail in the following section on 'iterature re#iew. 5his
research aims to study in depth the process of new product de#elopment in a small
enterprise based at /heffield> C.A.
1.2 Background of the company
5he company has been manufacturing branded bags made from sustainable materials.
2ost of its turno#er is generated from business7to7business sales i.e. branded cloth
bags for corporate clients or the public sector. It largely targets organi1ations across
C.A like town councils> social organi1ations> large bookshops etc. 5hese customers
use it mainly as an eco7friendly promotional item. In addition it sells eco7friendly
bags for consumers through retailers spread across the country. 5he company came
out with an inno#ati#e idea to de#elop a +IJ ,+o it yourself- product targeted at kids.
It showcased the product in a trade fair in /eptember=0.. It plans to sell this product
both through retail as well as direct to consumers. 5he idea of the pack is to enable
children to customise their own eco7bag by pro#iding a foldable> pocket7bag with a
pack of fabric crayons and +IJ instructions. !ne important ob"ecti#e behind
de#eloping this product is that it will also ser#e to ele#ate the e6isting brand of the
company as a pioneering eco7brand. 5he owner of the company has been hea#ily
in#ol#ed in day to day operations and has been taking most decisions. /he is assisted
by a small team consisting of a sales team member and a few screen7printing staff.
5he organi1ation approached the management school of 5he Cni#ersity of /heffield
for its support in de#eloping the marketing plan of the pro"ect. 5he company had
secured the grant for in#esting in the technology and also in designing the product
from a go#ernment organi1ation ,C.A- pro#iding assistance to /23s in terms of
grants and business de#elopment support.
5he literature re#iew section will study #arious researches that ha#e been undertaken
in the area of new product de#elopment. 2any of these studies ha#e been done on
~ 5 ~
relati#ely large companies. 'arge companies usually ha#e well de#eloped research
and de#elopment as well as marketing department. 5hese departments in association
with other departments like finance ha#e played a #ery critical role in the
de#elopment of a new product. 5he ob"ecti#e of this paper is to find if the new
product de#elopment process in a small proprietorship organi1ation also follows the
same stages.
1.3 Research b!ecti"e
5he ob"ecti#e of this research is to e6plore the robustness of classical )ew *roduct
de#elopment ,)*+- framework in the case of product inno#ation in a small
manufacturing company.
As discussed earlier the process of new product de#elopment has been closely
associated with the subseBuent commercial success of the product. Hhile on one
hand> new product can pro#ide significant competiti#e ad#antage to the company> on
the other hand> a hasty and unplanned introduction can result in significant loss and
damage to the reputation of the company. /mall enterprises with constrained financial
resources might suffer from lethal blow arising out of failed new products. It might
damage the prospects of further financing opportunities for the firm. Hhen
researchers ha#e highlighted the significance of following the structured new product
de#elopment process in the success of the product> it is significant to check the
robustness of the process in the case of /23s. 5his is especially significant since not
many studies ha#e been done in this field for /23s and especially in the case of an
incremental inno#ation as introduced by the company in the case study. 5hus> this
study is e6pected to contribute to the process of new product de#elopment in the case
of a small enterprise in C.A introducing an incremental new product.
1.# Research $uestion
5he research will attempt to pro#ide answers to the following Buestions in the conte6t
of a small enterprise8
i- Hhat are the stages that a new product mo#es through before it is ready for launch
in the case of an /23 in#ol#ed in de#eloping an inno#ati#e concept into a productK
~ 6 ~
ii- Fow does this compare with classical )*+ framework suggested in the literatureK
/ince this is a case study research based on a single company> the aim is more to
achie#e a deeper insight rather than de#eloping generalisable findings.
~ 7 ~
Chapter.2 %iterature Re"ie&
2.1 'e& (roduct )e"elopment *'()+
)ew product de#elopment ,)*+- is an important element of the product strategy. In
absence of a new product or product updates> the company can become #ulnerable to
more inno#ati#e competitors. 5he process of new product de#elopment usually begins
with a conceptLidea and ends with the launch of a new product. Fowe#er> the term
new product has different meanings to different people. Crawford and Benedetto
,200(- ha#e included the following categories of new products8
1. New-to-the world products
8
5hese are first time introductions to the world.
Halkman> *olaroid camera are some e6amples of
this category.
2. New- to-the firm products
or new product lines 8
/ony had introduced walkman as the new7to7 the
world. Fowe#er> when )ational launched
walkman> it was new to the firm. 5hus for
)ational> it was a new product.
3. Addition to existing
product line8
F* launched 'aser Get
Beta testing and 4amma testing. Alpha testing is often done at internal le#el say with
employees of the company. 5hen ne6t le#el is Beta testing where the product is tested
at the customer=s site. 4amma testing is e6tensi#e testing in the field o#er a longer
period of time say> si6 months.
Commercial launch8 5he product once successful in the test market> it is ready for
commercial launch and is obser#ed for the performance o#er time.
#igure ,% !he classical model of NP"
Source'?2arketing 2anagement@ ,p.$1%-> by Aotler> * and Aeller> A.'.,200.-. Cpper /addle i#er>
)G 8 *earson 3ducation> Inc.
5here are se#eral other models de#eloped by others in the same line with minor
alterations in the stages. A summary of the key stages is pro#ided in the table below8
~ 13 ~
!able $% Summary of some basic models in NP"
~ 14 ~
~ 15 ~
'inear process in )*+ has been critici1ed ,/aren> 200$- since this does not allow for
fi#e features #i1.8
1. ecursi#e processes7 going back and repeating an acti#ity again if need is felt>
2. /imultaneous processes8 conducting more than one step at the same time>
3. 5here is more attentionLfocus to earlier stages in the process>
%. 36ternal acti#ities that take place outside the firm or with partners and
5. 5echnical and organi1ational #ariations7 5hey refer to processes and beha#iour
specific to the firm.
5akeuchi and )onaka ,1.($- Buestioned the applicability of the seBuential model in
the fast paced and highly competiti#e market as pre#ails in most sectors. Fe proposed
a Nrugby= approach to )*+ as against the Nrelay race= model ,pp. 13 he laid down some conditions under which
parallel de#elopment might not work. 5wo of his four conditions that are applicable to
this study are8
• It may not apply to break7through products and thus discontinuous ,radical-
inno#ations and
• It might not apply to organi1ations where the product de#elopment is
masterminded by one indi#idual and he hands out the well defined set of
specifications for people to follow.
5he other two being8
• It does not apply to #ery large pro"ects like aerospace business etc and
• It reBuires e6traordinary effort from all cross7functional team members
in#ol#ed in the pro"ect including huge amount of o#ertime cost.
Boone E Aurt1 ,1...- noted that se#eral firms face tremendous amount of pressure to
launch new products. It might be necessary to speed up the process to a#oid losing the
technology to competition or e#en due to fast changing technology. He obser#ed how
fast technology mo#ed from Cassettes to C+ to +9+> Blu7ay and so on. 5hey
obser#ed in the case of electronics industry> a new product that reaches its market nine
months late could sacrifice half its potential re#enue. 5his has prompted many
companies to go for parallel product de#elopment stages. 5o help such parallel
~ 16 ~
de#elopment stages rather than following seBuential stages as indicated abo#e> the
concepts of Critical *ath 2ethod ,C*2- and the *rogram 3#aluation and e#iew
5echniBue ,*35- as planning and scheduling tools ha#e been #ery useful to the
firms.
Cooper who has carried out se#eral research studies on new product de#elopment and
suggested critical success factors ,Cooper and Aleinschmidt> 1..5- has suggested a
#ery popular ?stage7gate@ process for the new product de#elopment. 5he stage7gate
system recogni1es new product de#elopment as a process and like any other process>
it can be managed. 5he focus remains on impro#ing the process and remo#ing
#ariances to ensure output Buality and achie#e success. 5he process is sub7di#ided
into a number of stages. +epending upon the company or the di#ision> there can be
four to se#en stages in#ol#ed. 3ach stage is usually more e6pensi#e than the
preceding one. Between two stages there is a gate to check the Buality against a set of
deli#erables. 4ates ensure that no critical acti#ity has been omitted. 5he product must
pass each criterion before it is allowed to mo#e to the ne6t stage. 5hus> the
information impro#es at the passage of each stage and hence risk in#ol#ed is reduced.
4ates are managed by senior managers who act as ?gatekeeper@. 5he gate7keeping
group is typically multidisciplinary and multi7functional. It must be able to take the
decision for the go7ahead.
5his process o#ercomes the limitations of the seBuential model described earlier. At
each stage of the stage7gate system> many acti#ities take place concurrently and
in#ol#e different functions of the firm. *arallel processing helps in compressing
de#elopment time without compromising on the Buality. Cooper and Aleinschmidt
,1..%- ha#e emphasised on speed to market as a compelling ob"ecti#e enhancing
competiti#e ad#antage.
Fowe#er> to check what happens in practice> Cooper and Aleinschmidt ,1.($- ha#e
done research on 203 new product pro"ects. 5hey obser#ed incomplete and under7
resourced e6ecution of the new product processes. )o market study or market
research was conducted in no test
marketing was done. 3%M of these did not do any product tests in#ol#ing customers
and 32M did not ha#e any formal product launch.
~ 17 ~
Fart ,1...- emphasi1ed the need to introduce the #oice of the customer at key points
in the process for de#eloping new products. Interestingly> Hind and 2aha"an ,1.. 1; 1..5-> wherein the author had
suggested ignoring the customer since they often lack foresight incases of radically
new products and companies like CompaB> 2otorola and /teelcase ha#e been referred
as been practicing. Fowe#er> they concluded that a balance between e6ecuti#e
foresight and customer insight is what is reBuired in the case of )*+. 3#en Gohne
,1..2- had mentioned of following the #oice of customers with caution> specially
incase of industries where large powerful buyers e6ist. :irst> the business needs to
discriminate between different types of customers and customers who are inno#ators
in their own markets are likely to be better source of new product ideas. /econd> the
emerging trend of the marketplace as a whole should be used as the benchmark rather
than indi#idual suggestions. Fe cautioned that the company must consider customer
inputs as only one of the se#eral factors for )*+.
Gohne ,1..$- ha#e made a #ery interesting obser#ation in the field of new product
de#elopment. Hhile he agrees that many companies consider product de#elopment as
#ery important> he finds companies approach this #ery narrowly as has also been
commented by Cooper and Aleinschmidt ,1.($-. Fe points out that pharmaceutical
companies with huge E+ resource focus mainly on Nme7too= products and pursue
more risky new products through acBuisitions or "oint #enture route. obinson and
Chiang ,2002- ha#e studied data from 22 market pioneers and early followers tend to
emphasi1e minor pro"ects such as line e6tension and product impro#ement and the
real ma"or de#elopmental efforts come from late entrants. /tudies by /ong and *arry
,1..%> 1..$> 1.. the number of /23s in C.A
has increased by 50M in the last 25 years and contributes to o#er 50M of all the "obs
and about 35M of the 4+*. 5hey also argue that small firms should not be considered
as a miniature form of a large enterprise> but new models and approaches are
necessary to capture the peculiarities and distincti#e features of the /23s. /23s>
according to them would attain competiti#e ad#antage by deliberately selecting
specific market segments that are unattracti#e to large organi1ations and the
ad#antage of large structure pro#ides them the ability to respond Buickly to market
needs. 2oreo#er> small companies are often in a better position to identify new
product opportunities for their close working relationship with the customers and
suppliers ,2illward and 'ewis> 2005-
'ike large organi1ations> /23s also inno#ate and de#elop new products to stay
competiti#e in the marketplace. Fowe#er> /23s are characterised by lack of
abundance of resources that large organi1ations en"oy and this might act as a
disad#antage in se#eral product areas. Hoodcock et al. ,2000- studied si6 British
/23s and noted the strong urge in them for )*+. Fowe#er> they were found to ha#e
been constantly de7prioritising the work on )*+ as they faced constant pressure from
other shorter7term acti#ities. 5he firms also lacked in systematic maintenance of
informations pertaining to )*+ acti#ities. 3#en in the cases> where these were
maintained> they lacked rele#ant data to suggest impro#ements reBuired since the
record keeping was limited. According to *itta ,200(-> one conseBuence of limited
~ 19 ~
resources is that the emotion often dri#es the product decisions. Fe also obser#ed that
the /tage7gate system that large organi1ations follow is often not followed in /23s.
5hus in small organi1ations a new product idea arising from an indi#idual might make
it to the introduction stage without being sub"ect to rigorous stage7gate e#aluations.
5his often results in product failure post commercialisation. Bradley ,1..5-
mentioned that for a new product idea to be successful> it is important that its
de#elopment does not become an e#ent but a complete process. 5his is in line with the
Boo17 Allen E Familton Inc study ,1.$(- that found only one out of 5( ideas resulted
in a successful product. 5his success7rate at a later stage was re#ised by them to one
in se#en ,Ainnear and Bernhardt> 1(($; Cooper> 1..0- but still signify the importance
of Bualifying an idea before it results in is introduced in the market as a product. 4ibb
and /cott ,1.(5- ha#e identified /23s with lack of formal planning and the
importance of personal "udgement and moti#ation of the entrepreneurs. Aets +e
9ries,1..0- also argues that entrepreneurs often act intuiti#ely. 2illward and 'ewis
,2005- studied the process of new product de#elopment in three manufacturing /23s
in C.A. 5hey found that in contrast to classical theories of )*+> these organi1ations
are characteri1ed by the presence of o#er7powering ownerL managers who dominate
the process. 5hey often lack specific academic knowledge reBuired at following the
stages. 5hus> in the resource constrained en#ironments of an /23> they end up
focusing on cost and time o#er other key factors. 5he emphasis is on getting on with
the de#elopment without focusing adeBuately on product design ,:ilson and
'ewis>2000-. Barnes ,2002- studied $ manufacturing /23s and found the presence of
rigid top7down approach as inadeBuate for /23s. According to 2illward and 'ewis
,2005- apart from the presence of o#er7powering manager> /23s are also
characteri1ed by the issues of time and cost as the priority for decision making in the
entrepreneurs. 5his results in the following8
• +e#elopment is handicapped by unrealistic e6pectations from the outset
• /hort7term considerations dominate the decision making
• Acti#ities such as e#aluation of alternati#es are #iewed as unnecessary
• &uality is compromised and
• Aey de#elopment stages like market research are omitted.
~ 20 ~
According to them> /23s fail to understand the significance of product design. 5his
is essentially a neglected stage and there is a tendency to "ust get on with the design
and not to spend too much time and resources on the same. Cawood ,1.. the study of /imon et al
,2002- seemed to support the theory that radical inno#ations that tend to generate #ery
high returns are pre#alent in /23s. Fowe#er> !ke ,200 he argued intuiti#ely that newly established /23s are more likely to focus
on radical inno#ations than older /23s.
5he limited number of studies that ha#e been undertaken in /23s> ha#e primarily
focused on resource constraints> management style > Buantum of inno#ation as
mentioned abo#e. Fowe#er> none of these studies ha#e studied the stages of
de#elopment of new products in /23s. 5his research aims to contribute in this area
of study.
~ 21 ~
Chapter 3. Research .ethodology
3.1 Choice of Research 0pproach
3.1.1 Deductive or Inductive Approach
In a research> it is important to link a theory with empirical data. 5wo approaches
ha#e been described by /aunders et al. ,200.-8
+educti#e Approach7 Cnder this approach> the researcher de#elops a theoretical
framework first by re#iewing literature and tests the same using the data collected.
Inducti#e Approach7 Fere the data is collected and e6plored to de#elop a theory and
these are then related to the literature.
/ince the ob"ecti#e of the research was to establish a theory using empirical data>
inducti#e approach has been preferred o#er the deducti#e approach ,/aunders et al.>
200.-. 5he data collection method in#ol#ed inter#iewing the key decision makers of
the organi1ation that helped to e6plore what was going on in order to understand the
process they followed for the de#elopment of the new product. 5his was also e6plored
with other stakeholders> agencies and professionals who possess rele#ant e6perience
in the de#elopment of new product,s-.5his would ensure that multiple sources were
used to collect data to eliminate sub"ecti#ity. 5he result of this analysis would be the
formulation of the theory.
~ 22 ~
3.1.2 Qualitative or Quantitative data
As suggested by /aunders et al. ,200.-> an inducti#e approach works well with small
sample and using Bualitati#e data. According to 4hauri and 4ronhaug ,2005-> a
Bualitati#e research method is most useful for hypothesis building and e6planation.
&ualitati#e research studies things in their natural settings and attempts to make sense
through interpretation of the obser#ed phenomena ,5homas> 2003-. It in#ol#es
collection of a #ariety of empirical data. 5hus> a Bualitati#e research emphasi1es on
words and its understanding and on generation of theories ,Bryman and Bell> 200 which are transformed
into a critical theme by the researcher ,4hauri and 4ronhaug> 2005-.
!n the other hand> a Buantitati#e research tends to be based on the numerical
measurement of specific aspects of phenomena ,5homas> 2003-.It is used to test
causal hypothesis. It is used to emphasi1e the Buantification in data collection and
analysis and is placed on testing theories ,4hauri and 4ronhaug> 2005-.
According to the research problem and ob"ecti#e of the study> the Bualitati#e research
is found to be more appropriate ,/aunders et al.> 200.-.
3.2 Choice of Research ,trategy
As described by /aunders et al. ,200.-> it is the research Buestion that determines the
choice of the research strategy to be used. In this research> two strategies were
initially considered as suitable8 Action esearch and Case /tudy. /ince the researcher
was an acti#e participant in the pro"ect> action research was initially found to be more
suitable. 2c)iff and Hhitehead ,200$8 planning> taking action> e#aluating and
so on. 5his is called the action research spiral ,/aunders et al.> 200.-. 5he researcher
has done action research in the past. It in#ol#ed not only participating in the process
but also making acti#e inter#ention in the process in the role of a consultant. Hhen
compared with that> the scope of modifying and inter#ention was found to be
e6tremely limited in this pro"ect. 5his is mainly because the duration of the pro"ect
~ 23 ~
was much shorter ,practically one month- and in#ol#ed a number of acti#ities. 2ost
of the acti#ities and strategies were decided beforehand by the owner7manager. 5he
length and scope of the pro"ect would not permit this. 2oreo#er> 2c)iff and
Hhitehead ,200$8 1%- ad#ise not to use action research to draw comparisons> show
statistical correlations. 5his is contradictory to the research Buestion that seeks to
compare the )*+ in the organi1ation with the classical )*+ theory.
Case study on the other hand has been defined by obson ,200281 one fundamental characteristic of this
method is that one need not start with a theory since until one gets in there and gets
hold of the data> one does not know what theory makes most sense in the case. 5he
raw material here is the e#idence and that holds the key. 5hus using a single
organi1ation as a case study wherein the key decision makers can be accessed before
and after e#ery stage in the de#elopment of the new product will help in gaining a rich
understanding of the conte6t and the process to arri#e at the theory. /ince not much
research has been undertaken in the field of )*+ in an /23> this method of single
company case study would be appropriate ,/aunders et al> 200.-. esearcher=s role in
the case study as participant obser#er ,Jin> 200.- seems more "ustified than
undertaking the role of an action researcher.
3.3 )ata Collection
5he following sources of e#idence ,Jin> 200.- were used to collect the data to address
the research Buestions and the research ob"ecti#e8
1. +ocumentation8
• 2aintaining diary of the meetings and e#ents on a daily basis>
• 2aintaining emails and other communiBuRs
2. Inter#iews8
~ 24 ~
• Inter#iewing the owner face to face before and after e#ery stage in the
de#elopment of the new product to study the process followed by the
company.
• Inter#iewing some e6perts who were in#ol#ed with the pro"ect and also
possessed prior practical knowledge of )*+ in /23s.
3. !bser#ations8
5he rest of the process in#ol#ed obser#ing both as a participant as well as a
detached obser#er ,4illham> 2000- at times the acti#ities till the product is
ready for the commercial launch to understand the conte6t of the process.
3.# .ethodology in (ractice
5he pro"ect pro#ided the researcher an opportunity to get closely associated with
#arious acti#ities in#ol#ed in the de#elopment of the new kids= +IJ product. 5hough
the product idea had originated long before the researcher got associated with the
pro"ect> most of the concept was de#eloped in his presence. Fence a mi6 of different
sources of information was used in the research.
r the past data> inter#iew of some
people who were in#ol#ed with the pro"ect including the owner was used. 5he period
of research lasted upto the market testing acti#ity. 5hese acti#ities were documented
down by the researcher on a daily basis. )otes used to be taken in the meeting and
soon after conclusion of the meeting these notes used to be formally written down in
further detail not to miss out on e#idence. A total of ten interactions happened with the
company and its staff. 5hese meetings were organi1ed by the "oint initiati#e of the
2anaging +irector of the case company and the researcher. 5he ob"ecti#e of these
meetings was to discuss the acti#ities in detail and decide on the ne6t course of action.
5he broad stages of the product de#elopment were described and shared by the 2+ of
the company in the month of April> 200.. 5his was slightly modified in the month of
Gune. Both sets of acti#ities are enclosed in the Appendi6 I9.
In each of these meetings> the researcher and the 2+ used to be common participants.
In addition some other participants used to be present who would be a specialist for a
particular meeting. In four meetings> the design agency was present. In one meeting
an e6pert recommended by the organi1ation that supports the de#elopment of /23s
~ 25 ~
in C.A by pro#iding grants and ad#ice was also present. 5he organi1ation decided to
take the ser#ices of an upcoming illustrator who has been signed up to pro#ide some
customi1ed designs for this new product was also in#ited. 5hese meetings in#ol#ing
e6ternal parties started when the concept was being de#eloped for the new product.
5he researcher used to record the action points discussed in each meeting and how
these action points were arri#ed at in detail in his diary. At times specific ?why@ and
?how@ Buestions were asked by the researcher to get further insights to the action
points as a part of the enBuiry process. 5hese used to bring out the real purpose
behind certain actions proposed and helped the researcher to identify which of the
actions e6pressed were process7led as against the ?gut7feel@. 5he importance of
asking ?why@ and ?how@ Buestions in case study research has been highlighted by Jin
,200.-. In addition> the email communications were filed for record and used as
e#idence. 2ost of these communications in#ol#ed the planning time7scheduling>
pro#iding directions for creati#e de#elopment> defining agenda for further discussion
etc. 5hese were useful information that could be related to the process of new product
de#elopment.
Apart from the documentations as e#idence that also included documenting
participant obser#ations> detached obser#ation was also used as useful e#idence.r
an e6ample> the owner=s in#ol#ement and time commitment in e6isting business as
against the new product was actually obser#ed in practice. Hhile on paper> it would
appear that the company appointed a manager to look after e6isting business to allow
more time to the owner7manager on strategic planning including )*+> in practice
e#idence was obser#ed to the contrary. In this case> this was especially significant
since the owner was manager as well and planning and e6ecution both came from the
same end. !bser#ation also helped in understanding how much importance had been
gi#en to the process of decision making when #arious parties were in#ol#ed and
a#ailable for consultation. /ince the ob"ecti#e of the study is to study the robustness
of the classical theory of the )*+ process in the case of this /23> it was important
not only to find if each step was followed in this case study but also to obser#e the
robustness of each stage. It was important to assess the le#el of details that the
company went into each of these stages. +irect obser#ation was useful in achie#ing
this ob"ecti#e o#er inter#iew.
~ 26 ~
Inter#iew was used as important support e#idence in this process of multi7method
approach ,4illham> 2000-. Inter#iewing the owner7manager pro#ided useful insights
into past acti#ities. 3specially for the process of idea generation and idea screening
that occurred before the research started> it was the only a#ailable source of
information. In addition> it was #ery useful for understanding the rationale for #arious
decisions taken on behalf of the organi1ation. In addition> Nelite inter#iew= ,4illham>
2000- was used as a techniBue to triangulate the data analysis. 5his techniBue
in#ol#ed inter#iewing specialistsLe6perts with wide knowledge of both this
organi1ation in the pro"ect as well as firsthand knowledge of )*+ in other /23s and
how decision making happened in other organi1ations. 5his added breadth to the case
as well as acted as additional e#idence to draw conclusions from.
5he data collected from the abo#e sources were triangulated to deri#e meaningful
conclusions. 5he diary entries captured the reflections of the researcher to construct
themes. It also helped to pick up the description of acti#ities that was related to
#arious )*+ acti#ities both in terms of Ntick bo6ing= as well as to check the e6tent of
robustness of the process. Both the meetings and the email communications pro#ided
the direction to the stages of de#elopment. Hhile identifying stages of de#elopment>
these formed the basis of information. A 4antt Chart was drawn to plot the acti#ities
and check which stage happened before and after one another. Fowe#er> to study what
caused this and #arious attributes of this organi1ation> a thematic analysis was
undertaken. 5hese themes were essentially deri#ed using the e#idence gathered from
all the methods8 inter#iew> self7reflection> obser#ation. !pposite themes like ad7
hocism #s. systematic approach was deri#ed and e#idence gathered were plotted
against each of these and the freBuency of the e#idence was generated to interpret the
data collected.
~ 27 ~
Chapter #. 0nalysis of the Case ,tudy
5he Case study was analysed mainly by using two instruments8
• *lotting the stages through a 4antt Chart and
• +oing a thematic analysis by identifying #arious themes emerging out of the
data collected.
#.1 1antt Chart
5o analyse the case study first #arious broad acti#ities were identified from the data
collected. 5hese acti#ities were then classified into #arious stages of )*+ process.
5his was done on the basis of the description of stages and acti#ities that were
disco#ered by the researcher and interpreted in the light of the literature re#iewed for
the purpose of writing this thesis. 5hus #arious acti#ities that could be associated with
Idea screening for an e6ample were all clubbed against Idea /creening as shown in
5able3.r e6ample> a competitor analysis was done to identify what products
compete with this potential product in terms of en#ironmental toys> acti#ities in
similar price range. 5hus> this was to ascertain if the idea was good in terms of price>
distribution and the ability of the company to market it. Fence it was categori1ed
under Idea /creening since the stage has been defined that way in the literature as
re#iewed earlier. 5his process of plotting acti#ities against stages helped in identifying
stages in terms of when it started and when it ended as shown in :igure 3.
~ 28 ~
!able -% Activity list of NP" in the Case
As can be obser#ed in :igure 3 ,)e6t page-> the process of *roduct de#elopment
started much before any other stage. It also ran through the entire process of the )*+
in this case.
#igure -% (antt chart of the stages of NP" in the case
~ 29 ~
Fowe#er> it does not mean that a lot of acti#ities were happening in this area when
compared to other stages. It only meant that the acti#ities in this area started earlier
than that in other areas. It could mean that this area initially recei#ed more attention.
Fowe#er> if we look into the details> the acti#ity that started at the earliest shown in
5able3 was the procurement of the bags. 5his infact e#en preceded the idea generation
stage which according to the classical )*+ model ,shown in :ig.2 under the
'iterature e#iew section- is supposed to be the first step. Csually> any new product
originates with an idea. Fowe#er> since in this case it started with the procurement of
product> it could be interpreted as if this new product was concei#ed only as a solution
looking for a problem. 5his howe#er needed further in#estigation and the thematic
analysis at a later stage would throw further light onto this. *lotting the #arious stages
chronologically> the process can be shown as in :ig.%8
#igure .% Comparison of the stages of NP" between what was observed and what is defined in
theory
Apart from the product de#elopment that happened before idea generation and its
screening> business analysis was also undertaken before the concept was fully
~ 30 ~
de#eloped. 5his whole process tends to indicate that the product was de#eloped with
an ob"ecti#e of utili1ation of some e6isting in#entory and was moti#ated by some
re#enueLprofit e6pectation that was not being met in the way it was planned earlier.
5his also got confirmed in the triangulation using the elite inter#iew and the inter#iew
with ownerLmanager as attached in the Appendi6 III.
2ost of the acti#ities occurred in the last one month that mainly focused on the
product de#elopment. 5hese were confirmed by the records maintained in the diary
the rele#ant e6tracts of which has been attached in the Appendi6. Hhile the 4antt
Chart Ntick bo6es= all the stages of )*+ before the product is commercially launched>
it does not describe the robustness of each stage. 5he robustness was checked using
the thematic analysis that also included self7reflection.
#.2 Thematic 0nalysis
5hematic analysis was done to analyse the Bualitati#e data gathered through
documentation and inter#iews. 5hematic Analysis is an approach to deal with data
that in#ol#es the creation and application of Ncodes= to data ,2iles> 1..%; *atton>
1.( 2002-. 5he Ndata= to be analysed might include any number of forms8
e6tracts from diaryL field notes> an inter#iew transcript etc. Coding refers to the
creation of categories in relation to data; the grouping together of different instances
identified in the collected data under an umbrella term that would enable them to be
regarded as of the same type ,2iles> 1..%; *atton> 1.( 2002-.
Cpon reading the data collected se#eral times> the researcher could identify se#eral
themes that could ha#e a bearing on the process of de#elopment followed in the case.
5he broad themes that emerged out from the data were as under8
• Approach8 5his refers to the approach that was used in the process by the
company while de#eloping the product. Broadly three approaches were
identified and coded as8
? 4ut7feelLIntuiti#e ,A4-8 *urely based on instinct.
? N /olution looking for problem= ,/'*-8 Fa#ing some ideaLproduct in
hand and trying to apply that in the final product or was a need of some
specific key customer that got implemented in the product.
~ 31 ~
? 'ogicalL /ystematic ,A'-8 Csing logical reasoning
• Process8 5his refers to the way the process was handled in the
implementation. It was di#ided into8
? *lanned ,**-8 Hhere a proper planned process was followed while
implementing it and
? CnplannedLushed ,*C-8 efers to hapha1ard and ad7hoc
implementation mostly based on instincts.
• "ecision ma*ing Process8 It refers to the degree of participation in the
decision making. It was sub7di#ided into8
? Incorporating others opinion ,+I!-8 efers to those decisions that
in#ol#ed consultingL incorporating the #iews e6pressed by e6ternal
agencies> 5eam members> customers etc.
? )ot incorporating others opinion ,+)I!-8 Hhere decisions mainly
in#ol#ed the owner=s preference> again many times based on instinct.
• Creativity8 It refers to the e6tent of creati#ityL inno#ati#eness that found its
way into the acti#ityLprocess of )*+. It was again classified into two opposite
themes8
? Creati#e ,CC-8 efers to those ideas used in the process that were
inno#ati#e or different for this industryLproduct category.
? Imitati#e ,CI-8 Hhere it in#ol#ed "ust copying what someone has done
earlier without Buestioning why it was done that way or if it would
apply to this processLproduct.
• Resource Constraint8 :rom all the e#idence gathered from #arious sources>
acti#ities such as time> money or skill were identified and subseBuently
classified as esource constraint. 5his would help us identify to what e6tent
the )*+ process was affected or compromised. 5his was deliberately not
further subdi#ided into opposite themes.
• Attitude towards the use of external expertise8 A few e6ternal e6pertises
were a#ailable for the process that was intended to support the process. 5hese
~ 32 ~
were pro#ided by the organi1ation that pro#ided the grant to this /23 as well
as in#ol#ed e6pertise from the design agency and the Cni#ersity whose
support was sought by the owner in the pro"ect. 5he attitude towards using
these was subdi#ided into8
? Hillingly ,33H-8 It identifies if the e6pertise and recommendations
were accepted willingly by the company or
? Cnwillingly ,33C-8 efers to those situations where it was accepted
under pressure or as a part of the process defined by the organi1ation
pro#iding grant or in e6pectation of future grant and assistance.
5hese themes and sub7themes were tabulated as shown in 5able %. 5he Broad themesL
meta7themes and themes were identified for their freBuency from the data collected
and coded. :reBuency here denotes the number of instances these themes and meta7
themes appeared as e#idence in the collected data while analy1ing these. 5he table
also captures the source of these e#idences.r an e6ample> the theme Ngut7
feelLintuiti#e= as the approach ,meta7theme- was e#idenced in 10 instances
,freBuency- in the self7reflection of the researcher in the diary. If all sources of
e#idence are combined> this approach was identified in 33 instances out of total of120
e#idence captured in the analysis.
5he findings of the table % ha#e been represented graphically using the bar as well as
pie7chart. Hhile the pie7chart helps to identify which meta7theme was dominating in
the process> the bar chart identifies it in terms of indi#idual themes. 5hus> we can find
that approach ,contributed 3(M to the o#erall- was the central meta7theme in the )*+
process and within that the gut7feelLintuiti#e approach was dominating.
~ 33 ~
!able .% Study of the themes emerging out of the collected data
~ 34 ~
#igure /% Relative prevalence of different themes and meta-themes in the collected data
#igure 0% Relative dominance of different meta-themes in the collected data
Another important factor was the pre#alence of the Nsolution looking for problem=
approach as discussed earlier. 5he pro"ect was concei#ed because some pocket bags
were procured from abroad with the e6pectation that these would ha#e a good
demand. 5hese were also purchased in large Buantity ,3000 pieces- as confirmed in
the inter#iew with the ownerLmanager. Fowe#er> these were not felt to be right for the
market. Fence it needed repositioning and impro#isation. /ome market study or key
~ 35 ~
retailer feedback suggested that the pockets could be used to fit in fabric crayons and
con#ert it to a +IJ product. In as many as eight instances in the analysis this feature
of fitting the product to a solution emerged clearly. It goes well with the phrase
?necessity is the mother of all in#entions@. 5his could also be caused by the lack of
resources in terms of a#ailability of skilled manpower reBuired to follow a more
systematic approach. 5he other important reason of following this approach could be
the presence of a dominating ownerLmanager as identified in the literature re#iew as
well as the decision making process in the analysis.
5hough there were specific instances of planning in#ol#ed in acti#ities> broadly the
process was unplanned and hapha1ard. 5his could ha#e been caused by the scarcity of
resources and in particular time and skill. 36perts were in#ol#ed in the last couple of
months of the pro"ect and whate#er planning was made were necessitated by the fast
approaching deadline. 5he owner was busy in day7to day acti#ities since no spare
resource was a#ailable. Fowe#er> in the pro"ect brief ,attached in the Appendi6 I9-
the process was defined in terms of stages and deadline. 5hat gi#es an idea if the
resource constraints were una#ailable> the process was planned well in paper. 3#en
the pro"ect needed to be reworked in Gune and the launch needed to be postponed.
5his was caused by non7a#ailability of the funds and delayed a#ailability of the
pro"ect management support from the Cni#ersity. Fowe#er> the pro"ect was indeed
deli#ered on time though the ownerLmanager in her inter#iew did mention that she
would ha#e liked atleast another $7( weeks to get her best in.
+ecision making process apparently reflected a good le#el of participation. Fowe#er>
upon close analysis> it was obser#ed that only those acti#ities were finally agreed
upon which either was ratified by the feedback from customers or was primarily her
idea. :rom the documentary e#idence and inter#iews> these were not concluded but
upon post7facto analysis> these were identified. 5his can be cited as an ad#antage of
using triangulation. 5hose ideas that could be #aluable for business like Npatenting=> or
choosing popular designs did not find their way through. 5hus> it could be concluded
that ideas that either was in conflict with the resource constraint or with her instinct
were re"ected. 5hus while Nmore ideas were better for decision making= was
appreciated> in practice mainly those ideas of her that were supported were
implemented. !n the other hand> those ideas of others that were not in agreement with
her gut7feel or resources were not implemented at this stage. 5his o#er7powering
~ 36 ~
presence in decision making has also had its effect on the o#erall planned e6ecution of
the process as well. 2any time to meet the deadline> a more planned process was
shel#ed by the decision maker.
'imited instances of creati#ity were obser#ed in the process. It started with finding an
inno#ati#e way to use a product that did not suit its original purpose and was modified
to create a niche. 5his fits well with the literature re#iew and can be identified with an
incremental product7 a result of continuous inno#ation. It was also a necessity since a
small enterprise with resource constraints could not afford to discard 3000 pieces of
raw materials purchased for processing. 5he design agency in#ol#ed in brand
de#elopment in terms of gi#ing it a brand identity and de#eloping the packaging had
an impressi#e track record in repositioning a brand and for its creati#ity. Fowe#er>
most of the creati#e aspects that emerged out were centered on the
en#ironmentalLethical aspects of the product and were the ideas of the ownerLmanager.
It could be the o#er7powering impact of the ownerLmanager in the decision making
process and the shortage of time and money that would ha#e restricted the creati#ity
potential of the agency and was captured se#eral times by the researcher in his
detached obser#ation.
esource constraint was another broad theme that ran across the pro"ect and has been
one of the dominating themes apart from the presence of the o#er7powering
ownerLmanager through intuiti#e decision making leading to an unplannedLrushed
process of )*+. 5he organi1ation has been helped by the presence of a #ery talented
ownerLmanager who apart from ha#ing a si1able e6perience in printing technology is
a designer herself who has significant e6perience of design de#elopment and first
hand retailing e6perience. Creati#ity is a natural gift to her and she has #ery good
contacts with the trade as well as media. Fowe#er> she always lacked the presence of
a second line of management. /he has recei#ed the ser#ices of an operations manager
only recently and had been running the operations herself with the help of a
salesperson and a small team of printers as discussed earlier. 5herefore apart from
finance> the business also has been handicapped by lack of skilled manpower putting
pressure on her for running day to day operations. 5his spirit has been captured in the
following statements in her inter#iew8
? Sthese are typical challenges of the small businesses7 Nspinning
plates= all the times.
~ 37 ~
? Sthe owner is working Nin the business Nand not Non the business=.
5he paucity of time as a resource has been a serious constraint that has been
witnessed in the pro"ect. 5his coupled with the urgency to get the product into the
market has resulted in the rushed process of )*+. 5hus almost e#ery stage of
de#elopment has been compromised when compared with the classical model of )*+
process. Hhile there was much scope for a more detailed stage of Idea generation>
idea screening> the following stages ha#e been rushed mainly because of the resource
constraints in terms of time. 5his is specially true since e6ternal e6pertise was
a#ailable for the later stages of de#elopment. /ince the pro"ect was concei#ed upon
market analysis in the month of /eptember=200( and much of the concept
de#elopment happened after Guly=200.> it pro#ided enough room for a more detailed
screening of idea. Fowe#er> in practice only a limited market analysis has been done
and that too using e6isting handful key retailers. 5his is specially true since the new
product caters to a completely new market segment> where the e6isting large retailers
,the e6isting business mainly uses them for business to business transactions- do not
play a strategic role. 5hus the compromise made in the early stages of )*+ process
could be attributed to the approach ,intuiti#eLgut7feel and solution looking for
problem-.
5he final theme that was considered for the analysis was the attitude towards the use
of e6ternal e6pertise. It was broadly obser#ed that the ownerLmanager has been
looking forward to seek the in#ol#ement of e6ternal e6pertise mainly to supplement
the skill a#ailable within the company. In the inter#iew> she mentioned that though she
had rele#ant skill in design de#elopment> the presence of the consultant ,pro#ided by
the organi1ation pro#iding grant- was #iewed to be influential in controlling the
design agency to deli#er on time. Fowe#er> her e6pertise was not much emphasi1ed
though contribution in both these areas was captured in the inter#iew with the
consultant ,respondent B in Appendi6 III-. Fowe#er> she did mention se#eral times
during the process> both formally informally that if e6ternal e6pertise is made
a#ailable to /23s> the process can become much more controllable and the success
rate could impro#e. 5he initial willingness to accept her ad#ice howe#er> could ha#e
been moti#ated by the possibility of securing grant from the organi1ation that works
towards pro#iding support to /23s. Also the presence of big names including that of
~ 38 ~
the local Cni#ersity adds #alue to the free publicity that was targeted through press
and media. 5hus>
#igure 1% Inter-relationship of themes and meta-themes
each themeLmeta7theme are inter7related and a cause and effect relationship can be
identified as described in the earlier analysis and shown diagrammatically in figure we can describe this product as a result of an incremental inno#ation ,9ery1er>
1..(- upon an e6isting product that was not found suitable in its original form. It is
Buite in line with the findings of !ke et al. ,200 when compared with the
classical model of )*+> it has been seen to ha#e followed a hapha1ard and rushed
~ 39 ~
process. 5his is Buite in agreement with the study of :ilson and 'ewis ,2000- who
obser#ed that /23s undertake new product de#elopment in absence of a definite
product de#elopment strategy in an opportunistic and ad7hoc way. 5his primarily has
been caused by the typical nature of )*+ in a /23 characteri1ed by the dominating
presence of the ownerLmanager ,5akeuchi and )onaka> 1.($; 2illward and 'ewis>
2005; Barnes> 2002- under tremendous pressure to launch Buickly ,Boone and Aurt1>
1...-. It also confirms the comments of *itta ,200(-> according to who in /23s
emotion often dri#es the product decisions and ideas of an indi#idual make it to the
introduction stage without following a stage7gate process. Hhile the importance of the
#oice of the customer ,Fart> 1...- has been considered by the owner as significant
beside her gut7feel> it could also be linked with the findings of 2illward and 'ewis
,2005- that /23s and their close working relationships with customers and suppliers.
Fowe#er> it is felt by the researcher that the feedback incorporated included more of
the e6isting large buyers who catered to a #ery different market segment and should
ha#e in#ol#ed more of idea screening and market testing using rele#ant market
segment. 5his is especially significant since the Boo17Allen and Familton Inc study
,Ainnear and Bernhardt> 1(($; Cooper> 1..0- identified that only 1 out of < ideas
mature into a successful product. 5his put real emphasis on challenging the idea in the
initial two stages since dropping the product at a later stage could become much more
e6pensi#e ,Cooper and Aleinschmidt> 1..5-. esource constraint in terms of time>
skill and money can be the other important reason for the de#iation from a more
planned approach. 5hough the skill was sourced from outside> the full potential was
not utili1ed in the process. 3#en though on paper> it looks like all the stages were
ticked out> these were not followed in depth for an e6ample apart from inadeBuate
research in the initial stages upto the concept de#elopment and testing> e#en the
marketing strategy did not in#ol#e detailed working out of the distribution strategy.
5he pricing was gut feel based and lacked research. )o break7e#en analysis and risk
analysis were done which were e#ident from the inter#iew of the ownerLmanager>
wherein she did not recollect the sales plan or profit plan. Hhen she was asked to cite
5 reasons why the product could fail> she was really struggling. 5he business plan was
made before the idea screening and concept de#elopment stage and it appears that this
was done to secure a grant by drawing an impressi#e plan to attract attention of the
organi1ation since the pro"ect would face challenge from other /23 pro"ects Ncrying
for its share of milk=. :inal stage as defined in the schedule was the launch at the trade
~ 40 ~
fair. 5he product is scheduled for commercial launch only when it is deemed to be
completely ready. Fowe#er> the ownerLmanager reali1ed a few more modifications
were reBuired in the product mainly in the packaging while she was attending the
trade fair and was slightly away from the distractions caused by the routine office
acti#ities. /he mentioned of these change reBuirements on the last day of the trade fair
and the reference of this reBuired modifications was mentioned by her in the inter#iew
when she accepted that the product was only .5M ready.
~ 41 ~
Chapter 2. Conclusions
5he ob"ecti#e of this research was to study the robustness of the process of new
product de#elopment in the case of a single /23 and compare it with the classical
theory. In this case study> the /23 has de#eloped an inno#ati#e concept into a
product. 5he product is not new to the world but is a result of continuous inno#ation.
5his inno#ation was a result of a failure in percei#ing commercial success in one
earlier product that resulted in unwanted accumulation of in#entory that needed to be
used. 5he organisation demonstrated most characteristics of a typical micro enterprise
that include resource constraints in terms of time> money> manpower and skill;
presence of a dominating ownerLmanager taking decisions mostly on the basis of
instinct. 5he organisation has been able to source the ser#ices of some e6ternal
e6pertise especially towards the end of the pro"ect. Fowe#er> to optimi1e the ser#ices
of these e6perts to de#elop the product fully> the launch was not rescheduled. 5he
owner e6emplified the spirit of /23s to launch the product at the earliest possible
date to ensure that the re#enue stream is acti#ated sooner. 3#en though each of the
steps of classical )*+ were followed in principle> the process was not robust since
most acti#ities were rushed and did not spend adeBuate time in going into detail of the
acti#ities like research> testing> proper business analysis and marketing strategy. It
also did not follow the logical seBuence of stages. 3#en though certain scholars ha#e
ad#ocated the need of following certain stages parallel> a few stages really looked
completely out of place in terms of occurrence.r e6ample> the product de#elopment
~ 42 ~
was the first step stressing the need to utilise what was in stock> doing business
analysis ahead of the concept was fully de#eloped and tested. 5he main emphasis has
been to de#elop the product design and go for a Buick commercialisation. Apart from
the o#er7dependence on her own instinct> the owner manager has been highly
influenced by a select few buyers of her e6isting products that actually cater to a #ery
different market segment. As a result of these> though the product seems to ha#e
combined some good and contemporary concepts like +IJ> 4reen marketing and
children product; the lack of market testing specially for price and Buality in addition
to protecting it from getting imitated could cast serious doubt on its long7term
success. /ince the organi1ation sources bags from suppliers and sells to the retail> it
faces threat from both ends7of the supply chain. 2oreo#er> the cost of the product is
far more than arithmetic sum of its components. 5hus she is charging premium for the
concept only that needed protection through the patenting route. 5he presence of the
centralised decision making has also pre#ented the product from being challenged in
the process of its fast7track de#elopment. 5his is Buite in contrast with the stage7gate
model of )*+ proposed by Cooper ,1..0-. /uch a rushed and hapha1ard process
could be attributed to the nature of the product as well. 5he company has been in the
business of manufacturing bags> though the form and positioning was different. 5he
literature re#iew did refer to the studies made by /ong and *arry ,1..%> 1..$> 1.. in this case> the market segment is slightly different
than the e6isting one that the company was ser#icing.
In the end it needs to be acknowledged that this case study in#ol#ed the study of the
process of )*+ using a single organisation and a single product. 5hus it cannot be
generalised to the )*+ process in /23s.
~ 43 ~
References8
Armstrong> 4. And Aotler> *% ,200 ,(
th
ed.-. Cpper
/addle i#er> )G 8 *earson 3ducation> Inc.
Assael> F. ,1.(5-. Marketing Management Strategy and Action. Boston8 Aent
*ublishing Company.
Barc1ak> 4.> 4riffin> A. and Aahn> A.B. ,200.-> *erspecti#e8 5rends and +ri#ers of
/uccess in )*+ *ractices8 esults of the 2003 *+2A Best *ractices /tudy> Journal
of Product Innoation Management> 2$> pp. 3723.
Barnes> +. ,2002-> 5he 2anufacturing /trategyrmation *rocess in /mall And
2edium7si1ed 3nterprises> Journal of Small Business and !nterprise "eelopment>
.,2-> pp. 13071%..
Bea#er> 4. And *rince> C. ,200%-> 2anagement> strategy and policy in the CA small
business sector8 a critical re#iew> Journal of Small Business and !nterprise
"eelopment> 11 ,1-> pp. 3%7%..
Boone> '. 3. and Aurt1> +. '. ,1...-. #ontemporary Marketing.rt Horth ;
'ondon 8 +ryden *ress.
Boo17Allen E Familton Inc. ,1.$(-. Management of $ew Products> ,%
th
ed.-.
)ewJork.
Bradley> :. ,1..5-. Marketing Management. 'ondon8 *rentice Fall.
Brassington> :. and *ettitt> /. ,200$-. Principles of Marketing> ,%
th
ed.-.)ew Jork 8
*rentice Fall.
Brassington> :. And *ettitt> /. ,200$-. Principles of Marketing> ,%
th
3d.-. 3sse6 8
*earson 3ducation 'td.
Brown> /. '. And 3isenhardt> A. 2. ,1..5-> *roduct +e#elopment8 *ast esearch>
*resent :indings> and :uture +irections> %he Academy of Management &eiew> 20
,2-> pp. 3%373 A. and Bell> 3. ,200 ,2
nd
3d.-. !6ford8
!6ford Cni#ersity *ress Inc.
Cawood> 4. ,1.. +esign And Inno#ation Culture in /23s> "esign Management
~ 44 ~
Journal> 9ol. ( ,%-> pp. $$7 C.C. and /hiu> 3.C. ,200(-> Critical /uccess :actors of )ew *roduct
+e#elopment in 5aiwan=s 3lectronics Industry> Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and
'ogistics> 20,2-> pp. 1 . 4. ,1...-> :rom 36perience 5he In#isible /uccess :actors in *roduct
Inno#ation> Journal of Product Innoation Management> 1$> pp. 1157133.
Cooper> .4. ,1..0-> /tage74ate /ystem8 A new tool for 2anaging )ew *roducts>
Business (ori)on> 33,3-> pp.%%75%.
Cooper> .4. and Aleinschmidt> 3.G. ,1.($-> An in#estigation into the )ew *roduct
*rocess8 /teps> +eficiencies> and Impact> Journal of Product Innoation Management>
3> pp. .4. and Aleinschmidt> 3.G. ,1..%-> +eterminants of 5imeliness in *roduct
+e#elopment> Journal of Product Innoation Management> 11> pp. 3(173.$.
Cooper> .4. and Aleinschmidt> 3.G.,1..5-> Benchmarking the :irm=s Critical
/uccess :actors in )ew *roduct +e#elopment. Journal of Product innoation
management> 12> pp. 32 and Benedetto> A.+. ,200(-. $ew Products Management> ,(
th
3d.-.
2c4raw7Fill International 3dition.
3uropean Commission ,2003->5he new /23 definition. T!nlineU
A#ailable at8
http 8LLec.europa.euLenterpriseLenterpriseQpolicyLsmeQdefinitionLinde6Qen.htm
TAccessed 10 Guly 200.U.
3#ans> G.. and Berman>B% ,1.. ,<
th
3d.-. Cpper /addle i#er> )G8
*rentice Fall.
:ilson> A. and 'ewis> A. ,2000-> Barriers Between +esign and Business /trategy>
+esign 2anagement Gournal> 11,%-> pp. %(752.
:reel> 2. /. ,2000-> Barriers to *roduct Inno#ation in /mall 2anufacturing :irms>
International Small Business Journal> 1(,2-> pp. $07(0.
4hauri> * and 4ronhaug> A. ,2005-> &esearch Methods In Business Studies: A
Practical *uide> ,3
rd
3d.-. Farlow8 :inancial 5imes *rentice Fall.
~ 45 ~
4ibb> A. And /cott> 2. ,1.(5-> /trategic Awareness> *ersonal Commitment And 5he
*rocess of *lanning In 5he /mall Business> Journal of Management Studies> 22 ,$->
pp. 5. H. 3. C. ,2000-. Case /tudy esearch 2ethods. 'ondon8 Continuum.
Fart> /.> 51okas> ). and /aren>2. ,1...-> 5he effecti#eness of market information in
enhancing new *roduct success rates> !uropean Journal of innoation management>
2,1-> pp. 20725.
Gean 2c)iff> G. and Hhitehead> G. ,200$-. All +ou $eed %o ,now About Action
&esearch. 'ondon 8 /A43 *ublications
Gobber> +. ,200 ,5
th
3d.-. 2aidenhead8
2c4raw7Fill 3ducation.
Gohne> A. ,1..2-> +on=t 'et Jour Customers 'ead Jou Astray in +e#eloping )ew
*roducts> !uropean Management Journal> 10 ,1-> pp. (07(%.
Gohne> A. ,1..$-. /ucceeding at *roduct +e#elopment In#ol#es 2ore 5han A#oiding
:ailure> !uropean Management Journal> 1%,2-> pp.1 2.:.. ,1..$-> 5he Anatomy of 5he 3ntrepreneur8 Clinical
!bser#ations> (uman &elations> %. , pp.(537((3.
Ainnear> 5. C.> Bernhardt> A. '. ,1.($-. Principles of Marketing> ,2
nd
ed.-. 4len#iew>
Ill8 /cott>resman.
Aotler> * and Aeller> A.'. ,200.-. Marketing Management> ,13
th
3d.-. Cpper /addle
i#er> )G 8 *earson 3ducation> Inc.
2a"aro> /. ,1..3-. %he #reatie Marketer. !6ford8 Butterworth Feinemann in
association with the Chartered Institute of 2arketing.
2athot> 4. B. 2. ,1.(2-> Fow to 4et )ew *roducts to 2arket &uicker> 'ong &ange
Planning> 15 ,$-> pp. 20730.
2c)eal> G.C. and Gi> 2.:. ,1...-. Chinese children as consumers8 an analysis of their
new product information sources> Journal of #onsumer Marketing>1$,%-> pp. 3%573$%.
2eyer> 2.F. and Ctterback> G.2. ,1..3-> 5he *roduct :amily and the +ynamics of
~ 46 ~
Core Capability> Sloan Management &eiew> 3%,3-> pp. 2.7% 2. B. ,1..%-. -ualitatie "ata Analysis: An !.panded Sourcebook> ,2
nd
3d.-.
5housand !aks> Calif.; 'ondon 8 /age> 1..%.
2illward> F and 'ewis> A. ,2005-> Barriers to successful new product de#elopment
within small manufacturing companies. Journal of Small Business and !nterprise
"eelopment> 12,3->pp 3 A.> Burke> 4. And 2yers> A% ,200 Inno#ation types and performance in
growing C.A. /23s> International Journal of /perations 0 Production Management>
2 Strategic
Management Journal> 23,.-> pp. (557($$.
obson> C. ,2002-. eal world research8 a resource for social scientists and
practitioner7researchers>, 2
nd
3d.-. !6ford8 Blackwell.
/aren> 2. ,200$-. Marketing *raffiti %he 2iew From %he Street. !6ford8
Butterworth7Feinemann.
/aunders> 2.> 'ewis> *. And 5hornhill> A. ,200.-. &esearch Methods for Business
Students. ,5
th
3d.-. )ew Jork8 *rentice Fall.
/imon> 2.> 3lango>B.> Foughton> /. 2. and /a#elli> /3 ,2002-> 5he /uccessful
*roduct *ioneer8 2aintaining Commitment while Adapting to Change> Journal of
Small Business Management4 %0 ,3-> pp. 1( V. 2. And 2ontoya7Heiss> 2. 2. ,1..(-> Critical +e#elopment Acti#ities for
eally )ew #ersus Incremental *roducts> Journal of Product Innoation
Management> 13> pp. 12%7135.
/ong> V. 2. and *arry. 2. 3. ,1..%-> 5he +imensions of Industrial )ew *roduct
/uccess and :ailure In /tate 3nterprises In 5he *eopleNs epublic of China> Journal
~ 47 ~
of Product Innoation Management> 11 ,2-8 105711(.
/ong> V. 2. and *arry. 2. 3. ,1..$-> Hhat /eparates Gapanese )ew *roduct Hinners
:rom 'osers> Journal of Product Innoation Management> 13 ,5-> pp. %227%3..
/ong> V. 2. and *arry. 2. 3. ,1.. 5he +eterminants of Gapanese )ew product
/uccess> Journal of Marketing &esearch> 3% ,1-> pp. $%7 F. and )onaka> I. ,1.($-> 5he new new product de#elopment game>
(arard Business &eiew> Gan7:eb> pp. 13 .2. ,2003-. Blending 5ualitatie 0 5uantitatie research methods in theses
and dissertations. 5housand !aks8 Corwin *ress.
Crban> 4. '. and Fauser. G. . ,1..3-. +esign and marketing of new products> ,2
nd
3d.-. 3nglewood Cliffs> )G 8 *rentice7Fall.
9ery1er> .H. ,1..(-> +iscontinuous Inno#ation and the )ew *roduct +e#elopment
*rocess> Journal of Product Innoation Management> 15> pp. 30%7321.
Hind> G. And 2aha"an> 9% ,1.. Journal of Marketing &esearch>
3%,1-> pp. 1712
Hoodcock> +. G.> 2osey> /. *. And Hood> 5. B. H. ,2000-> )ew product de#elopment
in British /23s> !uropean Journal of Innoation Management> 3, %-> pp. 2127221.
Jin> . A. ,200.-> Case /tudy esearch8 +esign and 2ethods> ,%
th
3d.-. 'os Angeles>
TCalif.U ; 'ondon 8 /A43.
~ 48 ~
doc_525407035.doc
Dissertation paper in Sheffield Management School.
Contents
Acknowledgement
Abstract
Chapter1. Introduction..................................................................................................3
1.1 Background of the study......................................................................................3
1.2 Background of the company................................................................................5
1.3 esearch !b"ecti#e...............................................................................................$
1.% esearch &uestion................................................................................................$
Chapter.2 'iterature e#iew.........................................................................................(
2.1 )ew *roduct +e#elopment ,)*+-.......................................................................(
2.1.1 Continuous and +iscontinuous inno#ation....................................................
2.1.2 /tages of )*+.............................................................................................10
2.2 /mall to medium si1ed enterprises ,/23s-.......................................................1.
Chapter 3. esearch 2ethodology..............................................................................22
3.1 Choice of esearch Approach............................................................................22
3.1.1 +educti#e or Inducti#e Approach...............................................................22
3.1.2 &ualitati#e or &uantitati#e data..................................................................23
3.2 Choice of esearch /trategy..............................................................................23
3.3 +ata Collection...................................................................................................2%
3.% 2ethodology in *ractice....................................................................................25
Chapter %. Analysis of the Case /tudy........................................................................2(
%.1 4antt Chart.........................................................................................................2(
%.2 5hematic Analysis..............................................................................................31
Chapter 5. Conclusions...............................................................................................%2
eferences....................................................................................................................%%
Appendi67I8 36cerpts from dairy7 /elf reflection
Appendi67II8 36cerpts from e7mail communications
Appendi67III8 36cerpts from inter#iews
Appendi67I98 *ro"ect briefs
Table of Figures
:igure 1.5ypes of *roduct Inno#ations;..........................................................................
:igure 2.5he classical model of )*+..........................................................................13
:igure 3.4antt chart of the stages of )*+ in the case.................................................2.
:igure %.Comparison of the stages of )*+ as witnessed in the case with that in theory
......................................................................................................................................30
:igure 5.elati#e pre#alence of different themes and meta7themes in the collected
data...............................................................................................................................35
:igure $.elati#e dominance of different meta7themes in the collected data..............35
:igure new products are considered to be the ?lifeblood of an organi1ation@
,Armstrong and Aotler> 200 1.(5-. 2oreo#er> de#eloping on its own is not the only source of de#eloping
a new product for a company. AcBuiring a new product from another company has
been a popular source used by #arious organi1ations. Crawford and Benedetto ,200(-
ha#e discussed the concept of *roduct Inno#ation Charter ,*IC-. 5his is a document
produced by the senior management of an organi1ation to pro#ide guidance to the
business units on the role of inno#ation. 5his highlights the strategic importance of a
defined process of managing the product inno#ation. 2any times> we find that the
strategic need of introducing a new product might not be backed up by the core
capability ,2eyer and Ctterback> 1..3- reBuired to produce that product for the
company. AcBuisition or licensing can be a better strategy to introduce the new
product in such circumstances. Boo1 DAllen E Familton Inc ,1.$(- suggested a si67
stage process for new product de#elopment ,)*+- through acBuisition. 5he first two
~ 3 ~
steps were similar to the one they suggested for the si67stage in7house de#elopment of
new products> but differed in the last four steps. 5hese ha#e been discussed in detail in
the literature re#iew in Chapter 2.
)ew product de#elopment has generated a lot of interest among researchers because
of the low success rate ,Assael> 1.(5; 3#ans and Berman> 1.. 200$; Gobber> 200 he suggested a four to
se#en stage process depending on the company or the di#ision. /e#eral other
researchers ha#e defined the new product de#elopment process in terms of stages.
!ne popular model used by Aotler and Aeller ,200.- considers this to be an eight7step
process. It describes how the new product idea is concei#ed at the first place and then
gets refined till it becomes a concept and is tested before business analysis is done.
5hen the prototype is de#eloped for market testing to ensure that the final product
launched in the market place becomes a result of a planned effort backed up by a
rigorous process. 3#en though> a few #ariations e6ist in the stages defined by #arious
researchers> most of the stages are common across different studies published in this
domain. esearchers ha#e associated the significance of following these stages as a
tool that can help companies to mitigate the high risk of new product failures
,Brassington and *ettitt> 200$-. Fowe#er> Hind and 2aha"an ,1.. new product
de#elopment process> as reflected in academic literature has undergone insignificant
change since 1. these ha#e been further categorised into
2edium> /mall and 2icro enterprises. /23s ha#e been credited with ma"or
inno#ati#e product ideas. Fowe#er> many of these ideas do not result in commercial
success. Barnes ,2002- commented that the strategic planning often seems
~ 4 ~
inappropriate in the dynamic en#ironments that /23s often e6perience. Fe stressed
the significance of inno#ation> fle6ibility and responsi#eness in such situations for
their sur#i#al. /23s are characteri1ed by resource constraints in terms of their access
to finance and Bualified management team ,:reel> 2000-. 5he o#erpowering presence
of the owner manager in the decision making has also been highlighted in se#eral
literatures and is co#ered in detail in the following section on 'iterature re#iew. 5his
research aims to study in depth the process of new product de#elopment in a small
enterprise based at /heffield> C.A.
1.2 Background of the company
5he company has been manufacturing branded bags made from sustainable materials.
2ost of its turno#er is generated from business7to7business sales i.e. branded cloth
bags for corporate clients or the public sector. It largely targets organi1ations across
C.A like town councils> social organi1ations> large bookshops etc. 5hese customers
use it mainly as an eco7friendly promotional item. In addition it sells eco7friendly
bags for consumers through retailers spread across the country. 5he company came
out with an inno#ati#e idea to de#elop a +IJ ,+o it yourself- product targeted at kids.
It showcased the product in a trade fair in /eptember=0.. It plans to sell this product
both through retail as well as direct to consumers. 5he idea of the pack is to enable
children to customise their own eco7bag by pro#iding a foldable> pocket7bag with a
pack of fabric crayons and +IJ instructions. !ne important ob"ecti#e behind
de#eloping this product is that it will also ser#e to ele#ate the e6isting brand of the
company as a pioneering eco7brand. 5he owner of the company has been hea#ily
in#ol#ed in day to day operations and has been taking most decisions. /he is assisted
by a small team consisting of a sales team member and a few screen7printing staff.
5he organi1ation approached the management school of 5he Cni#ersity of /heffield
for its support in de#eloping the marketing plan of the pro"ect. 5he company had
secured the grant for in#esting in the technology and also in designing the product
from a go#ernment organi1ation ,C.A- pro#iding assistance to /23s in terms of
grants and business de#elopment support.
5he literature re#iew section will study #arious researches that ha#e been undertaken
in the area of new product de#elopment. 2any of these studies ha#e been done on
~ 5 ~
relati#ely large companies. 'arge companies usually ha#e well de#eloped research
and de#elopment as well as marketing department. 5hese departments in association
with other departments like finance ha#e played a #ery critical role in the
de#elopment of a new product. 5he ob"ecti#e of this paper is to find if the new
product de#elopment process in a small proprietorship organi1ation also follows the
same stages.
1.3 Research b!ecti"e
5he ob"ecti#e of this research is to e6plore the robustness of classical )ew *roduct
de#elopment ,)*+- framework in the case of product inno#ation in a small
manufacturing company.
As discussed earlier the process of new product de#elopment has been closely
associated with the subseBuent commercial success of the product. Hhile on one
hand> new product can pro#ide significant competiti#e ad#antage to the company> on
the other hand> a hasty and unplanned introduction can result in significant loss and
damage to the reputation of the company. /mall enterprises with constrained financial
resources might suffer from lethal blow arising out of failed new products. It might
damage the prospects of further financing opportunities for the firm. Hhen
researchers ha#e highlighted the significance of following the structured new product
de#elopment process in the success of the product> it is significant to check the
robustness of the process in the case of /23s. 5his is especially significant since not
many studies ha#e been done in this field for /23s and especially in the case of an
incremental inno#ation as introduced by the company in the case study. 5hus> this
study is e6pected to contribute to the process of new product de#elopment in the case
of a small enterprise in C.A introducing an incremental new product.
1.# Research $uestion
5he research will attempt to pro#ide answers to the following Buestions in the conte6t
of a small enterprise8
i- Hhat are the stages that a new product mo#es through before it is ready for launch
in the case of an /23 in#ol#ed in de#eloping an inno#ati#e concept into a productK
~ 6 ~
ii- Fow does this compare with classical )*+ framework suggested in the literatureK
/ince this is a case study research based on a single company> the aim is more to
achie#e a deeper insight rather than de#eloping generalisable findings.
~ 7 ~
Chapter.2 %iterature Re"ie&
2.1 'e& (roduct )e"elopment *'()+
)ew product de#elopment ,)*+- is an important element of the product strategy. In
absence of a new product or product updates> the company can become #ulnerable to
more inno#ati#e competitors. 5he process of new product de#elopment usually begins
with a conceptLidea and ends with the launch of a new product. Fowe#er> the term
new product has different meanings to different people. Crawford and Benedetto
,200(- ha#e included the following categories of new products8
1. New-to-the world products
8
5hese are first time introductions to the world.
Halkman> *olaroid camera are some e6amples of
this category.
2. New- to-the firm products
or new product lines 8
/ony had introduced walkman as the new7to7 the
world. Fowe#er> when )ational launched
walkman> it was new to the firm. 5hus for
)ational> it was a new product.
3. Addition to existing
product line8
F* launched 'aser Get
Beta testing and 4amma testing. Alpha testing is often done at internal le#el say with
employees of the company. 5hen ne6t le#el is Beta testing where the product is tested
at the customer=s site. 4amma testing is e6tensi#e testing in the field o#er a longer
period of time say> si6 months.
Commercial launch8 5he product once successful in the test market> it is ready for
commercial launch and is obser#ed for the performance o#er time.
#igure ,% !he classical model of NP"
Source'?2arketing 2anagement@ ,p.$1%-> by Aotler> * and Aeller> A.'.,200.-. Cpper /addle i#er>
)G 8 *earson 3ducation> Inc.
5here are se#eral other models de#eloped by others in the same line with minor
alterations in the stages. A summary of the key stages is pro#ided in the table below8
~ 13 ~
!able $% Summary of some basic models in NP"
~ 14 ~
~ 15 ~
'inear process in )*+ has been critici1ed ,/aren> 200$- since this does not allow for
fi#e features #i1.8
1. ecursi#e processes7 going back and repeating an acti#ity again if need is felt>
2. /imultaneous processes8 conducting more than one step at the same time>
3. 5here is more attentionLfocus to earlier stages in the process>
%. 36ternal acti#ities that take place outside the firm or with partners and
5. 5echnical and organi1ational #ariations7 5hey refer to processes and beha#iour
specific to the firm.
5akeuchi and )onaka ,1.($- Buestioned the applicability of the seBuential model in
the fast paced and highly competiti#e market as pre#ails in most sectors. Fe proposed
a Nrugby= approach to )*+ as against the Nrelay race= model ,pp. 13 he laid down some conditions under which
parallel de#elopment might not work. 5wo of his four conditions that are applicable to
this study are8
• It may not apply to break7through products and thus discontinuous ,radical-
inno#ations and
• It might not apply to organi1ations where the product de#elopment is
masterminded by one indi#idual and he hands out the well defined set of
specifications for people to follow.
5he other two being8
• It does not apply to #ery large pro"ects like aerospace business etc and
• It reBuires e6traordinary effort from all cross7functional team members
in#ol#ed in the pro"ect including huge amount of o#ertime cost.
Boone E Aurt1 ,1...- noted that se#eral firms face tremendous amount of pressure to
launch new products. It might be necessary to speed up the process to a#oid losing the
technology to competition or e#en due to fast changing technology. He obser#ed how
fast technology mo#ed from Cassettes to C+ to +9+> Blu7ay and so on. 5hey
obser#ed in the case of electronics industry> a new product that reaches its market nine
months late could sacrifice half its potential re#enue. 5his has prompted many
companies to go for parallel product de#elopment stages. 5o help such parallel
~ 16 ~
de#elopment stages rather than following seBuential stages as indicated abo#e> the
concepts of Critical *ath 2ethod ,C*2- and the *rogram 3#aluation and e#iew
5echniBue ,*35- as planning and scheduling tools ha#e been #ery useful to the
firms.
Cooper who has carried out se#eral research studies on new product de#elopment and
suggested critical success factors ,Cooper and Aleinschmidt> 1..5- has suggested a
#ery popular ?stage7gate@ process for the new product de#elopment. 5he stage7gate
system recogni1es new product de#elopment as a process and like any other process>
it can be managed. 5he focus remains on impro#ing the process and remo#ing
#ariances to ensure output Buality and achie#e success. 5he process is sub7di#ided
into a number of stages. +epending upon the company or the di#ision> there can be
four to se#en stages in#ol#ed. 3ach stage is usually more e6pensi#e than the
preceding one. Between two stages there is a gate to check the Buality against a set of
deli#erables. 4ates ensure that no critical acti#ity has been omitted. 5he product must
pass each criterion before it is allowed to mo#e to the ne6t stage. 5hus> the
information impro#es at the passage of each stage and hence risk in#ol#ed is reduced.
4ates are managed by senior managers who act as ?gatekeeper@. 5he gate7keeping
group is typically multidisciplinary and multi7functional. It must be able to take the
decision for the go7ahead.
5his process o#ercomes the limitations of the seBuential model described earlier. At
each stage of the stage7gate system> many acti#ities take place concurrently and
in#ol#e different functions of the firm. *arallel processing helps in compressing
de#elopment time without compromising on the Buality. Cooper and Aleinschmidt
,1..%- ha#e emphasised on speed to market as a compelling ob"ecti#e enhancing
competiti#e ad#antage.
Fowe#er> to check what happens in practice> Cooper and Aleinschmidt ,1.($- ha#e
done research on 203 new product pro"ects. 5hey obser#ed incomplete and under7
resourced e6ecution of the new product processes. )o market study or market
research was conducted in no test
marketing was done. 3%M of these did not do any product tests in#ol#ing customers
and 32M did not ha#e any formal product launch.
~ 17 ~
Fart ,1...- emphasi1ed the need to introduce the #oice of the customer at key points
in the process for de#eloping new products. Interestingly> Hind and 2aha"an ,1.. 1; 1..5-> wherein the author had
suggested ignoring the customer since they often lack foresight incases of radically
new products and companies like CompaB> 2otorola and /teelcase ha#e been referred
as been practicing. Fowe#er> they concluded that a balance between e6ecuti#e
foresight and customer insight is what is reBuired in the case of )*+. 3#en Gohne
,1..2- had mentioned of following the #oice of customers with caution> specially
incase of industries where large powerful buyers e6ist. :irst> the business needs to
discriminate between different types of customers and customers who are inno#ators
in their own markets are likely to be better source of new product ideas. /econd> the
emerging trend of the marketplace as a whole should be used as the benchmark rather
than indi#idual suggestions. Fe cautioned that the company must consider customer
inputs as only one of the se#eral factors for )*+.
Gohne ,1..$- ha#e made a #ery interesting obser#ation in the field of new product
de#elopment. Hhile he agrees that many companies consider product de#elopment as
#ery important> he finds companies approach this #ery narrowly as has also been
commented by Cooper and Aleinschmidt ,1.($-. Fe points out that pharmaceutical
companies with huge E+ resource focus mainly on Nme7too= products and pursue
more risky new products through acBuisitions or "oint #enture route. obinson and
Chiang ,2002- ha#e studied data from 22 market pioneers and early followers tend to
emphasi1e minor pro"ects such as line e6tension and product impro#ement and the
real ma"or de#elopmental efforts come from late entrants. /tudies by /ong and *arry
,1..%> 1..$> 1.. the number of /23s in C.A
has increased by 50M in the last 25 years and contributes to o#er 50M of all the "obs
and about 35M of the 4+*. 5hey also argue that small firms should not be considered
as a miniature form of a large enterprise> but new models and approaches are
necessary to capture the peculiarities and distincti#e features of the /23s. /23s>
according to them would attain competiti#e ad#antage by deliberately selecting
specific market segments that are unattracti#e to large organi1ations and the
ad#antage of large structure pro#ides them the ability to respond Buickly to market
needs. 2oreo#er> small companies are often in a better position to identify new
product opportunities for their close working relationship with the customers and
suppliers ,2illward and 'ewis> 2005-
'ike large organi1ations> /23s also inno#ate and de#elop new products to stay
competiti#e in the marketplace. Fowe#er> /23s are characterised by lack of
abundance of resources that large organi1ations en"oy and this might act as a
disad#antage in se#eral product areas. Hoodcock et al. ,2000- studied si6 British
/23s and noted the strong urge in them for )*+. Fowe#er> they were found to ha#e
been constantly de7prioritising the work on )*+ as they faced constant pressure from
other shorter7term acti#ities. 5he firms also lacked in systematic maintenance of
informations pertaining to )*+ acti#ities. 3#en in the cases> where these were
maintained> they lacked rele#ant data to suggest impro#ements reBuired since the
record keeping was limited. According to *itta ,200(-> one conseBuence of limited
~ 19 ~
resources is that the emotion often dri#es the product decisions. Fe also obser#ed that
the /tage7gate system that large organi1ations follow is often not followed in /23s.
5hus in small organi1ations a new product idea arising from an indi#idual might make
it to the introduction stage without being sub"ect to rigorous stage7gate e#aluations.
5his often results in product failure post commercialisation. Bradley ,1..5-
mentioned that for a new product idea to be successful> it is important that its
de#elopment does not become an e#ent but a complete process. 5his is in line with the
Boo17 Allen E Familton Inc study ,1.$(- that found only one out of 5( ideas resulted
in a successful product. 5his success7rate at a later stage was re#ised by them to one
in se#en ,Ainnear and Bernhardt> 1(($; Cooper> 1..0- but still signify the importance
of Bualifying an idea before it results in is introduced in the market as a product. 4ibb
and /cott ,1.(5- ha#e identified /23s with lack of formal planning and the
importance of personal "udgement and moti#ation of the entrepreneurs. Aets +e
9ries,1..0- also argues that entrepreneurs often act intuiti#ely. 2illward and 'ewis
,2005- studied the process of new product de#elopment in three manufacturing /23s
in C.A. 5hey found that in contrast to classical theories of )*+> these organi1ations
are characteri1ed by the presence of o#er7powering ownerL managers who dominate
the process. 5hey often lack specific academic knowledge reBuired at following the
stages. 5hus> in the resource constrained en#ironments of an /23> they end up
focusing on cost and time o#er other key factors. 5he emphasis is on getting on with
the de#elopment without focusing adeBuately on product design ,:ilson and
'ewis>2000-. Barnes ,2002- studied $ manufacturing /23s and found the presence of
rigid top7down approach as inadeBuate for /23s. According to 2illward and 'ewis
,2005- apart from the presence of o#er7powering manager> /23s are also
characteri1ed by the issues of time and cost as the priority for decision making in the
entrepreneurs. 5his results in the following8
• +e#elopment is handicapped by unrealistic e6pectations from the outset
• /hort7term considerations dominate the decision making
• Acti#ities such as e#aluation of alternati#es are #iewed as unnecessary
• &uality is compromised and
• Aey de#elopment stages like market research are omitted.
~ 20 ~
According to them> /23s fail to understand the significance of product design. 5his
is essentially a neglected stage and there is a tendency to "ust get on with the design
and not to spend too much time and resources on the same. Cawood ,1.. the study of /imon et al
,2002- seemed to support the theory that radical inno#ations that tend to generate #ery
high returns are pre#alent in /23s. Fowe#er> !ke ,200 he argued intuiti#ely that newly established /23s are more likely to focus
on radical inno#ations than older /23s.
5he limited number of studies that ha#e been undertaken in /23s> ha#e primarily
focused on resource constraints> management style > Buantum of inno#ation as
mentioned abo#e. Fowe#er> none of these studies ha#e studied the stages of
de#elopment of new products in /23s. 5his research aims to contribute in this area
of study.
~ 21 ~
Chapter 3. Research .ethodology
3.1 Choice of Research 0pproach
3.1.1 Deductive or Inductive Approach
In a research> it is important to link a theory with empirical data. 5wo approaches
ha#e been described by /aunders et al. ,200.-8
+educti#e Approach7 Cnder this approach> the researcher de#elops a theoretical
framework first by re#iewing literature and tests the same using the data collected.
Inducti#e Approach7 Fere the data is collected and e6plored to de#elop a theory and
these are then related to the literature.
/ince the ob"ecti#e of the research was to establish a theory using empirical data>
inducti#e approach has been preferred o#er the deducti#e approach ,/aunders et al.>
200.-. 5he data collection method in#ol#ed inter#iewing the key decision makers of
the organi1ation that helped to e6plore what was going on in order to understand the
process they followed for the de#elopment of the new product. 5his was also e6plored
with other stakeholders> agencies and professionals who possess rele#ant e6perience
in the de#elopment of new product,s-.5his would ensure that multiple sources were
used to collect data to eliminate sub"ecti#ity. 5he result of this analysis would be the
formulation of the theory.
~ 22 ~
3.1.2 Qualitative or Quantitative data
As suggested by /aunders et al. ,200.-> an inducti#e approach works well with small
sample and using Bualitati#e data. According to 4hauri and 4ronhaug ,2005-> a
Bualitati#e research method is most useful for hypothesis building and e6planation.
&ualitati#e research studies things in their natural settings and attempts to make sense
through interpretation of the obser#ed phenomena ,5homas> 2003-. It in#ol#es
collection of a #ariety of empirical data. 5hus> a Bualitati#e research emphasi1es on
words and its understanding and on generation of theories ,Bryman and Bell> 200 which are transformed
into a critical theme by the researcher ,4hauri and 4ronhaug> 2005-.
!n the other hand> a Buantitati#e research tends to be based on the numerical
measurement of specific aspects of phenomena ,5homas> 2003-.It is used to test
causal hypothesis. It is used to emphasi1e the Buantification in data collection and
analysis and is placed on testing theories ,4hauri and 4ronhaug> 2005-.
According to the research problem and ob"ecti#e of the study> the Bualitati#e research
is found to be more appropriate ,/aunders et al.> 200.-.
3.2 Choice of Research ,trategy
As described by /aunders et al. ,200.-> it is the research Buestion that determines the
choice of the research strategy to be used. In this research> two strategies were
initially considered as suitable8 Action esearch and Case /tudy. /ince the researcher
was an acti#e participant in the pro"ect> action research was initially found to be more
suitable. 2c)iff and Hhitehead ,200$8 planning> taking action> e#aluating and
so on. 5his is called the action research spiral ,/aunders et al.> 200.-. 5he researcher
has done action research in the past. It in#ol#ed not only participating in the process
but also making acti#e inter#ention in the process in the role of a consultant. Hhen
compared with that> the scope of modifying and inter#ention was found to be
e6tremely limited in this pro"ect. 5his is mainly because the duration of the pro"ect
~ 23 ~
was much shorter ,practically one month- and in#ol#ed a number of acti#ities. 2ost
of the acti#ities and strategies were decided beforehand by the owner7manager. 5he
length and scope of the pro"ect would not permit this. 2oreo#er> 2c)iff and
Hhitehead ,200$8 1%- ad#ise not to use action research to draw comparisons> show
statistical correlations. 5his is contradictory to the research Buestion that seeks to
compare the )*+ in the organi1ation with the classical )*+ theory.
Case study on the other hand has been defined by obson ,200281 one fundamental characteristic of this
method is that one need not start with a theory since until one gets in there and gets
hold of the data> one does not know what theory makes most sense in the case. 5he
raw material here is the e#idence and that holds the key. 5hus using a single
organi1ation as a case study wherein the key decision makers can be accessed before
and after e#ery stage in the de#elopment of the new product will help in gaining a rich
understanding of the conte6t and the process to arri#e at the theory. /ince not much
research has been undertaken in the field of )*+ in an /23> this method of single
company case study would be appropriate ,/aunders et al> 200.-. esearcher=s role in
the case study as participant obser#er ,Jin> 200.- seems more "ustified than
undertaking the role of an action researcher.
3.3 )ata Collection
5he following sources of e#idence ,Jin> 200.- were used to collect the data to address
the research Buestions and the research ob"ecti#e8
1. +ocumentation8
• 2aintaining diary of the meetings and e#ents on a daily basis>
• 2aintaining emails and other communiBuRs
2. Inter#iews8
~ 24 ~
• Inter#iewing the owner face to face before and after e#ery stage in the
de#elopment of the new product to study the process followed by the
company.
• Inter#iewing some e6perts who were in#ol#ed with the pro"ect and also
possessed prior practical knowledge of )*+ in /23s.
3. !bser#ations8
5he rest of the process in#ol#ed obser#ing both as a participant as well as a
detached obser#er ,4illham> 2000- at times the acti#ities till the product is
ready for the commercial launch to understand the conte6t of the process.
3.# .ethodology in (ractice
5he pro"ect pro#ided the researcher an opportunity to get closely associated with
#arious acti#ities in#ol#ed in the de#elopment of the new kids= +IJ product. 5hough
the product idea had originated long before the researcher got associated with the
pro"ect> most of the concept was de#eloped in his presence. Fence a mi6 of different
sources of information was used in the research.
r the past data> inter#iew of somepeople who were in#ol#ed with the pro"ect including the owner was used. 5he period
of research lasted upto the market testing acti#ity. 5hese acti#ities were documented
down by the researcher on a daily basis. )otes used to be taken in the meeting and
soon after conclusion of the meeting these notes used to be formally written down in
further detail not to miss out on e#idence. A total of ten interactions happened with the
company and its staff. 5hese meetings were organi1ed by the "oint initiati#e of the
2anaging +irector of the case company and the researcher. 5he ob"ecti#e of these
meetings was to discuss the acti#ities in detail and decide on the ne6t course of action.
5he broad stages of the product de#elopment were described and shared by the 2+ of
the company in the month of April> 200.. 5his was slightly modified in the month of
Gune. Both sets of acti#ities are enclosed in the Appendi6 I9.
In each of these meetings> the researcher and the 2+ used to be common participants.
In addition some other participants used to be present who would be a specialist for a
particular meeting. In four meetings> the design agency was present. In one meeting
an e6pert recommended by the organi1ation that supports the de#elopment of /23s
~ 25 ~
in C.A by pro#iding grants and ad#ice was also present. 5he organi1ation decided to
take the ser#ices of an upcoming illustrator who has been signed up to pro#ide some
customi1ed designs for this new product was also in#ited. 5hese meetings in#ol#ing
e6ternal parties started when the concept was being de#eloped for the new product.
5he researcher used to record the action points discussed in each meeting and how
these action points were arri#ed at in detail in his diary. At times specific ?why@ and
?how@ Buestions were asked by the researcher to get further insights to the action
points as a part of the enBuiry process. 5hese used to bring out the real purpose
behind certain actions proposed and helped the researcher to identify which of the
actions e6pressed were process7led as against the ?gut7feel@. 5he importance of
asking ?why@ and ?how@ Buestions in case study research has been highlighted by Jin
,200.-. In addition> the email communications were filed for record and used as
e#idence. 2ost of these communications in#ol#ed the planning time7scheduling>
pro#iding directions for creati#e de#elopment> defining agenda for further discussion
etc. 5hese were useful information that could be related to the process of new product
de#elopment.
Apart from the documentations as e#idence that also included documenting
participant obser#ations> detached obser#ation was also used as useful e#idence.
ran e6ample> the owner=s in#ol#ement and time commitment in e6isting business as
against the new product was actually obser#ed in practice. Hhile on paper> it would
appear that the company appointed a manager to look after e6isting business to allow
more time to the owner7manager on strategic planning including )*+> in practice
e#idence was obser#ed to the contrary. In this case> this was especially significant
since the owner was manager as well and planning and e6ecution both came from the
same end. !bser#ation also helped in understanding how much importance had been
gi#en to the process of decision making when #arious parties were in#ol#ed and
a#ailable for consultation. /ince the ob"ecti#e of the study is to study the robustness
of the classical theory of the )*+ process in the case of this /23> it was important
not only to find if each step was followed in this case study but also to obser#e the
robustness of each stage. It was important to assess the le#el of details that the
company went into each of these stages. +irect obser#ation was useful in achie#ing
this ob"ecti#e o#er inter#iew.
~ 26 ~
Inter#iew was used as important support e#idence in this process of multi7method
approach ,4illham> 2000-. Inter#iewing the owner7manager pro#ided useful insights
into past acti#ities. 3specially for the process of idea generation and idea screening
that occurred before the research started> it was the only a#ailable source of
information. In addition> it was #ery useful for understanding the rationale for #arious
decisions taken on behalf of the organi1ation. In addition> Nelite inter#iew= ,4illham>
2000- was used as a techniBue to triangulate the data analysis. 5his techniBue
in#ol#ed inter#iewing specialistsLe6perts with wide knowledge of both this
organi1ation in the pro"ect as well as firsthand knowledge of )*+ in other /23s and
how decision making happened in other organi1ations. 5his added breadth to the case
as well as acted as additional e#idence to draw conclusions from.
5he data collected from the abo#e sources were triangulated to deri#e meaningful
conclusions. 5he diary entries captured the reflections of the researcher to construct
themes. It also helped to pick up the description of acti#ities that was related to
#arious )*+ acti#ities both in terms of Ntick bo6ing= as well as to check the e6tent of
robustness of the process. Both the meetings and the email communications pro#ided
the direction to the stages of de#elopment. Hhile identifying stages of de#elopment>
these formed the basis of information. A 4antt Chart was drawn to plot the acti#ities
and check which stage happened before and after one another. Fowe#er> to study what
caused this and #arious attributes of this organi1ation> a thematic analysis was
undertaken. 5hese themes were essentially deri#ed using the e#idence gathered from
all the methods8 inter#iew> self7reflection> obser#ation. !pposite themes like ad7
hocism #s. systematic approach was deri#ed and e#idence gathered were plotted
against each of these and the freBuency of the e#idence was generated to interpret the
data collected.
~ 27 ~
Chapter #. 0nalysis of the Case ,tudy
5he Case study was analysed mainly by using two instruments8
• *lotting the stages through a 4antt Chart and
• +oing a thematic analysis by identifying #arious themes emerging out of the
data collected.
#.1 1antt Chart
5o analyse the case study first #arious broad acti#ities were identified from the data
collected. 5hese acti#ities were then classified into #arious stages of )*+ process.
5his was done on the basis of the description of stages and acti#ities that were
disco#ered by the researcher and interpreted in the light of the literature re#iewed for
the purpose of writing this thesis. 5hus #arious acti#ities that could be associated with
Idea screening for an e6ample were all clubbed against Idea /creening as shown in
5able3.
r e6ample> a competitor analysis was done to identify what productscompete with this potential product in terms of en#ironmental toys> acti#ities in
similar price range. 5hus> this was to ascertain if the idea was good in terms of price>
distribution and the ability of the company to market it. Fence it was categori1ed
under Idea /creening since the stage has been defined that way in the literature as
re#iewed earlier. 5his process of plotting acti#ities against stages helped in identifying
stages in terms of when it started and when it ended as shown in :igure 3.
~ 28 ~
!able -% Activity list of NP" in the Case
As can be obser#ed in :igure 3 ,)e6t page-> the process of *roduct de#elopment
started much before any other stage. It also ran through the entire process of the )*+
in this case.
#igure -% (antt chart of the stages of NP" in the case
~ 29 ~
Fowe#er> it does not mean that a lot of acti#ities were happening in this area when
compared to other stages. It only meant that the acti#ities in this area started earlier
than that in other areas. It could mean that this area initially recei#ed more attention.
Fowe#er> if we look into the details> the acti#ity that started at the earliest shown in
5able3 was the procurement of the bags. 5his infact e#en preceded the idea generation
stage which according to the classical )*+ model ,shown in :ig.2 under the
'iterature e#iew section- is supposed to be the first step. Csually> any new product
originates with an idea. Fowe#er> since in this case it started with the procurement of
product> it could be interpreted as if this new product was concei#ed only as a solution
looking for a problem. 5his howe#er needed further in#estigation and the thematic
analysis at a later stage would throw further light onto this. *lotting the #arious stages
chronologically> the process can be shown as in :ig.%8
#igure .% Comparison of the stages of NP" between what was observed and what is defined in
theory
Apart from the product de#elopment that happened before idea generation and its
screening> business analysis was also undertaken before the concept was fully
~ 30 ~
de#eloped. 5his whole process tends to indicate that the product was de#eloped with
an ob"ecti#e of utili1ation of some e6isting in#entory and was moti#ated by some
re#enueLprofit e6pectation that was not being met in the way it was planned earlier.
5his also got confirmed in the triangulation using the elite inter#iew and the inter#iew
with ownerLmanager as attached in the Appendi6 III.
2ost of the acti#ities occurred in the last one month that mainly focused on the
product de#elopment. 5hese were confirmed by the records maintained in the diary
the rele#ant e6tracts of which has been attached in the Appendi6. Hhile the 4antt
Chart Ntick bo6es= all the stages of )*+ before the product is commercially launched>
it does not describe the robustness of each stage. 5he robustness was checked using
the thematic analysis that also included self7reflection.
#.2 Thematic 0nalysis
5hematic analysis was done to analyse the Bualitati#e data gathered through
documentation and inter#iews. 5hematic Analysis is an approach to deal with data
that in#ol#es the creation and application of Ncodes= to data ,2iles> 1..%; *atton>
1.( 2002-. 5he Ndata= to be analysed might include any number of forms8
e6tracts from diaryL field notes> an inter#iew transcript etc. Coding refers to the
creation of categories in relation to data; the grouping together of different instances
identified in the collected data under an umbrella term that would enable them to be
regarded as of the same type ,2iles> 1..%; *atton> 1.( 2002-.
Cpon reading the data collected se#eral times> the researcher could identify se#eral
themes that could ha#e a bearing on the process of de#elopment followed in the case.
5he broad themes that emerged out from the data were as under8
• Approach8 5his refers to the approach that was used in the process by the
company while de#eloping the product. Broadly three approaches were
identified and coded as8
? 4ut7feelLIntuiti#e ,A4-8 *urely based on instinct.
? N /olution looking for problem= ,/'*-8 Fa#ing some ideaLproduct in
hand and trying to apply that in the final product or was a need of some
specific key customer that got implemented in the product.
~ 31 ~
? 'ogicalL /ystematic ,A'-8 Csing logical reasoning
• Process8 5his refers to the way the process was handled in the
implementation. It was di#ided into8
? *lanned ,**-8 Hhere a proper planned process was followed while
implementing it and
? CnplannedLushed ,*C-8 efers to hapha1ard and ad7hoc
implementation mostly based on instincts.
• "ecision ma*ing Process8 It refers to the degree of participation in the
decision making. It was sub7di#ided into8
? Incorporating others opinion ,+I!-8 efers to those decisions that
in#ol#ed consultingL incorporating the #iews e6pressed by e6ternal
agencies> 5eam members> customers etc.
? )ot incorporating others opinion ,+)I!-8 Hhere decisions mainly
in#ol#ed the owner=s preference> again many times based on instinct.
• Creativity8 It refers to the e6tent of creati#ityL inno#ati#eness that found its
way into the acti#ityLprocess of )*+. It was again classified into two opposite
themes8
? Creati#e ,CC-8 efers to those ideas used in the process that were
inno#ati#e or different for this industryLproduct category.
? Imitati#e ,CI-8 Hhere it in#ol#ed "ust copying what someone has done
earlier without Buestioning why it was done that way or if it would
apply to this processLproduct.
• Resource Constraint8 :rom all the e#idence gathered from #arious sources>
acti#ities such as time> money or skill were identified and subseBuently
classified as esource constraint. 5his would help us identify to what e6tent
the )*+ process was affected or compromised. 5his was deliberately not
further subdi#ided into opposite themes.
• Attitude towards the use of external expertise8 A few e6ternal e6pertises
were a#ailable for the process that was intended to support the process. 5hese
~ 32 ~
were pro#ided by the organi1ation that pro#ided the grant to this /23 as well
as in#ol#ed e6pertise from the design agency and the Cni#ersity whose
support was sought by the owner in the pro"ect. 5he attitude towards using
these was subdi#ided into8
? Hillingly ,33H-8 It identifies if the e6pertise and recommendations
were accepted willingly by the company or
? Cnwillingly ,33C-8 efers to those situations where it was accepted
under pressure or as a part of the process defined by the organi1ation
pro#iding grant or in e6pectation of future grant and assistance.
5hese themes and sub7themes were tabulated as shown in 5able %. 5he Broad themesL
meta7themes and themes were identified for their freBuency from the data collected
and coded. :reBuency here denotes the number of instances these themes and meta7
themes appeared as e#idence in the collected data while analy1ing these. 5he table
also captures the source of these e#idences.
r an e6ample> the theme Ngut7feelLintuiti#e= as the approach ,meta7theme- was e#idenced in 10 instances
,freBuency- in the self7reflection of the researcher in the diary. If all sources of
e#idence are combined> this approach was identified in 33 instances out of total of120
e#idence captured in the analysis.
5he findings of the table % ha#e been represented graphically using the bar as well as
pie7chart. Hhile the pie7chart helps to identify which meta7theme was dominating in
the process> the bar chart identifies it in terms of indi#idual themes. 5hus> we can find
that approach ,contributed 3(M to the o#erall- was the central meta7theme in the )*+
process and within that the gut7feelLintuiti#e approach was dominating.
~ 33 ~
!able .% Study of the themes emerging out of the collected data
~ 34 ~
#igure /% Relative prevalence of different themes and meta-themes in the collected data
#igure 0% Relative dominance of different meta-themes in the collected data
Another important factor was the pre#alence of the Nsolution looking for problem=
approach as discussed earlier. 5he pro"ect was concei#ed because some pocket bags
were procured from abroad with the e6pectation that these would ha#e a good
demand. 5hese were also purchased in large Buantity ,3000 pieces- as confirmed in
the inter#iew with the ownerLmanager. Fowe#er> these were not felt to be right for the
market. Fence it needed repositioning and impro#isation. /ome market study or key
~ 35 ~
retailer feedback suggested that the pockets could be used to fit in fabric crayons and
con#ert it to a +IJ product. In as many as eight instances in the analysis this feature
of fitting the product to a solution emerged clearly. It goes well with the phrase
?necessity is the mother of all in#entions@. 5his could also be caused by the lack of
resources in terms of a#ailability of skilled manpower reBuired to follow a more
systematic approach. 5he other important reason of following this approach could be
the presence of a dominating ownerLmanager as identified in the literature re#iew as
well as the decision making process in the analysis.
5hough there were specific instances of planning in#ol#ed in acti#ities> broadly the
process was unplanned and hapha1ard. 5his could ha#e been caused by the scarcity of
resources and in particular time and skill. 36perts were in#ol#ed in the last couple of
months of the pro"ect and whate#er planning was made were necessitated by the fast
approaching deadline. 5he owner was busy in day7to day acti#ities since no spare
resource was a#ailable. Fowe#er> in the pro"ect brief ,attached in the Appendi6 I9-
the process was defined in terms of stages and deadline. 5hat gi#es an idea if the
resource constraints were una#ailable> the process was planned well in paper. 3#en
the pro"ect needed to be reworked in Gune and the launch needed to be postponed.
5his was caused by non7a#ailability of the funds and delayed a#ailability of the
pro"ect management support from the Cni#ersity. Fowe#er> the pro"ect was indeed
deli#ered on time though the ownerLmanager in her inter#iew did mention that she
would ha#e liked atleast another $7( weeks to get her best in.
+ecision making process apparently reflected a good le#el of participation. Fowe#er>
upon close analysis> it was obser#ed that only those acti#ities were finally agreed
upon which either was ratified by the feedback from customers or was primarily her
idea. :rom the documentary e#idence and inter#iews> these were not concluded but
upon post7facto analysis> these were identified. 5his can be cited as an ad#antage of
using triangulation. 5hose ideas that could be #aluable for business like Npatenting=> or
choosing popular designs did not find their way through. 5hus> it could be concluded
that ideas that either was in conflict with the resource constraint or with her instinct
were re"ected. 5hus while Nmore ideas were better for decision making= was
appreciated> in practice mainly those ideas of her that were supported were
implemented. !n the other hand> those ideas of others that were not in agreement with
her gut7feel or resources were not implemented at this stage. 5his o#er7powering
~ 36 ~
presence in decision making has also had its effect on the o#erall planned e6ecution of
the process as well. 2any time to meet the deadline> a more planned process was
shel#ed by the decision maker.
'imited instances of creati#ity were obser#ed in the process. It started with finding an
inno#ati#e way to use a product that did not suit its original purpose and was modified
to create a niche. 5his fits well with the literature re#iew and can be identified with an
incremental product7 a result of continuous inno#ation. It was also a necessity since a
small enterprise with resource constraints could not afford to discard 3000 pieces of
raw materials purchased for processing. 5he design agency in#ol#ed in brand
de#elopment in terms of gi#ing it a brand identity and de#eloping the packaging had
an impressi#e track record in repositioning a brand and for its creati#ity. Fowe#er>
most of the creati#e aspects that emerged out were centered on the
en#ironmentalLethical aspects of the product and were the ideas of the ownerLmanager.
It could be the o#er7powering impact of the ownerLmanager in the decision making
process and the shortage of time and money that would ha#e restricted the creati#ity
potential of the agency and was captured se#eral times by the researcher in his
detached obser#ation.
esource constraint was another broad theme that ran across the pro"ect and has been
one of the dominating themes apart from the presence of the o#er7powering
ownerLmanager through intuiti#e decision making leading to an unplannedLrushed
process of )*+. 5he organi1ation has been helped by the presence of a #ery talented
ownerLmanager who apart from ha#ing a si1able e6perience in printing technology is
a designer herself who has significant e6perience of design de#elopment and first
hand retailing e6perience. Creati#ity is a natural gift to her and she has #ery good
contacts with the trade as well as media. Fowe#er> she always lacked the presence of
a second line of management. /he has recei#ed the ser#ices of an operations manager
only recently and had been running the operations herself with the help of a
salesperson and a small team of printers as discussed earlier. 5herefore apart from
finance> the business also has been handicapped by lack of skilled manpower putting
pressure on her for running day to day operations. 5his spirit has been captured in the
following statements in her inter#iew8
? Sthese are typical challenges of the small businesses7 Nspinning
plates= all the times.
~ 37 ~
? Sthe owner is working Nin the business Nand not Non the business=.
5he paucity of time as a resource has been a serious constraint that has been
witnessed in the pro"ect. 5his coupled with the urgency to get the product into the
market has resulted in the rushed process of )*+. 5hus almost e#ery stage of
de#elopment has been compromised when compared with the classical model of )*+
process. Hhile there was much scope for a more detailed stage of Idea generation>
idea screening> the following stages ha#e been rushed mainly because of the resource
constraints in terms of time. 5his is specially true since e6ternal e6pertise was
a#ailable for the later stages of de#elopment. /ince the pro"ect was concei#ed upon
market analysis in the month of /eptember=200( and much of the concept
de#elopment happened after Guly=200.> it pro#ided enough room for a more detailed
screening of idea. Fowe#er> in practice only a limited market analysis has been done
and that too using e6isting handful key retailers. 5his is specially true since the new
product caters to a completely new market segment> where the e6isting large retailers
,the e6isting business mainly uses them for business to business transactions- do not
play a strategic role. 5hus the compromise made in the early stages of )*+ process
could be attributed to the approach ,intuiti#eLgut7feel and solution looking for
problem-.
5he final theme that was considered for the analysis was the attitude towards the use
of e6ternal e6pertise. It was broadly obser#ed that the ownerLmanager has been
looking forward to seek the in#ol#ement of e6ternal e6pertise mainly to supplement
the skill a#ailable within the company. In the inter#iew> she mentioned that though she
had rele#ant skill in design de#elopment> the presence of the consultant ,pro#ided by
the organi1ation pro#iding grant- was #iewed to be influential in controlling the
design agency to deli#er on time. Fowe#er> her e6pertise was not much emphasi1ed
though contribution in both these areas was captured in the inter#iew with the
consultant ,respondent B in Appendi6 III-. Fowe#er> she did mention se#eral times
during the process> both formally informally that if e6ternal e6pertise is made
a#ailable to /23s> the process can become much more controllable and the success
rate could impro#e. 5he initial willingness to accept her ad#ice howe#er> could ha#e
been moti#ated by the possibility of securing grant from the organi1ation that works
towards pro#iding support to /23s. Also the presence of big names including that of
~ 38 ~
the local Cni#ersity adds #alue to the free publicity that was targeted through press
and media. 5hus>
#igure 1% Inter-relationship of themes and meta-themes
each themeLmeta7theme are inter7related and a cause and effect relationship can be
identified as described in the earlier analysis and shown diagrammatically in figure we can describe this product as a result of an incremental inno#ation ,9ery1er>
1..(- upon an e6isting product that was not found suitable in its original form. It is
Buite in line with the findings of !ke et al. ,200 when compared with the
classical model of )*+> it has been seen to ha#e followed a hapha1ard and rushed
~ 39 ~
process. 5his is Buite in agreement with the study of :ilson and 'ewis ,2000- who
obser#ed that /23s undertake new product de#elopment in absence of a definite
product de#elopment strategy in an opportunistic and ad7hoc way. 5his primarily has
been caused by the typical nature of )*+ in a /23 characteri1ed by the dominating
presence of the ownerLmanager ,5akeuchi and )onaka> 1.($; 2illward and 'ewis>
2005; Barnes> 2002- under tremendous pressure to launch Buickly ,Boone and Aurt1>
1...-. It also confirms the comments of *itta ,200(-> according to who in /23s
emotion often dri#es the product decisions and ideas of an indi#idual make it to the
introduction stage without following a stage7gate process. Hhile the importance of the
#oice of the customer ,Fart> 1...- has been considered by the owner as significant
beside her gut7feel> it could also be linked with the findings of 2illward and 'ewis
,2005- that /23s and their close working relationships with customers and suppliers.
Fowe#er> it is felt by the researcher that the feedback incorporated included more of
the e6isting large buyers who catered to a #ery different market segment and should
ha#e in#ol#ed more of idea screening and market testing using rele#ant market
segment. 5his is especially significant since the Boo17Allen and Familton Inc study
,Ainnear and Bernhardt> 1(($; Cooper> 1..0- identified that only 1 out of < ideas
mature into a successful product. 5his put real emphasis on challenging the idea in the
initial two stages since dropping the product at a later stage could become much more
e6pensi#e ,Cooper and Aleinschmidt> 1..5-. esource constraint in terms of time>
skill and money can be the other important reason for the de#iation from a more
planned approach. 5hough the skill was sourced from outside> the full potential was
not utili1ed in the process. 3#en though on paper> it looks like all the stages were
ticked out> these were not followed in depth for an e6ample apart from inadeBuate
research in the initial stages upto the concept de#elopment and testing> e#en the
marketing strategy did not in#ol#e detailed working out of the distribution strategy.
5he pricing was gut feel based and lacked research. )o break7e#en analysis and risk
analysis were done which were e#ident from the inter#iew of the ownerLmanager>
wherein she did not recollect the sales plan or profit plan. Hhen she was asked to cite
5 reasons why the product could fail> she was really struggling. 5he business plan was
made before the idea screening and concept de#elopment stage and it appears that this
was done to secure a grant by drawing an impressi#e plan to attract attention of the
organi1ation since the pro"ect would face challenge from other /23 pro"ects Ncrying
for its share of milk=. :inal stage as defined in the schedule was the launch at the trade
~ 40 ~
fair. 5he product is scheduled for commercial launch only when it is deemed to be
completely ready. Fowe#er> the ownerLmanager reali1ed a few more modifications
were reBuired in the product mainly in the packaging while she was attending the
trade fair and was slightly away from the distractions caused by the routine office
acti#ities. /he mentioned of these change reBuirements on the last day of the trade fair
and the reference of this reBuired modifications was mentioned by her in the inter#iew
when she accepted that the product was only .5M ready.
~ 41 ~
Chapter 2. Conclusions
5he ob"ecti#e of this research was to study the robustness of the process of new
product de#elopment in the case of a single /23 and compare it with the classical
theory. In this case study> the /23 has de#eloped an inno#ati#e concept into a
product. 5he product is not new to the world but is a result of continuous inno#ation.
5his inno#ation was a result of a failure in percei#ing commercial success in one
earlier product that resulted in unwanted accumulation of in#entory that needed to be
used. 5he organisation demonstrated most characteristics of a typical micro enterprise
that include resource constraints in terms of time> money> manpower and skill;
presence of a dominating ownerLmanager taking decisions mostly on the basis of
instinct. 5he organisation has been able to source the ser#ices of some e6ternal
e6pertise especially towards the end of the pro"ect. Fowe#er> to optimi1e the ser#ices
of these e6perts to de#elop the product fully> the launch was not rescheduled. 5he
owner e6emplified the spirit of /23s to launch the product at the earliest possible
date to ensure that the re#enue stream is acti#ated sooner. 3#en though each of the
steps of classical )*+ were followed in principle> the process was not robust since
most acti#ities were rushed and did not spend adeBuate time in going into detail of the
acti#ities like research> testing> proper business analysis and marketing strategy. It
also did not follow the logical seBuence of stages. 3#en though certain scholars ha#e
ad#ocated the need of following certain stages parallel> a few stages really looked
completely out of place in terms of occurrence.
r e6ample> the product de#elopment~ 42 ~
was the first step stressing the need to utilise what was in stock> doing business
analysis ahead of the concept was fully de#eloped and tested. 5he main emphasis has
been to de#elop the product design and go for a Buick commercialisation. Apart from
the o#er7dependence on her own instinct> the owner manager has been highly
influenced by a select few buyers of her e6isting products that actually cater to a #ery
different market segment. As a result of these> though the product seems to ha#e
combined some good and contemporary concepts like +IJ> 4reen marketing and
children product; the lack of market testing specially for price and Buality in addition
to protecting it from getting imitated could cast serious doubt on its long7term
success. /ince the organi1ation sources bags from suppliers and sells to the retail> it
faces threat from both ends7of the supply chain. 2oreo#er> the cost of the product is
far more than arithmetic sum of its components. 5hus she is charging premium for the
concept only that needed protection through the patenting route. 5he presence of the
centralised decision making has also pre#ented the product from being challenged in
the process of its fast7track de#elopment. 5his is Buite in contrast with the stage7gate
model of )*+ proposed by Cooper ,1..0-. /uch a rushed and hapha1ard process
could be attributed to the nature of the product as well. 5he company has been in the
business of manufacturing bags> though the form and positioning was different. 5he
literature re#iew did refer to the studies made by /ong and *arry ,1..%> 1..$> 1.. in this case> the market segment is slightly different
than the e6isting one that the company was ser#icing.
In the end it needs to be acknowledged that this case study in#ol#ed the study of the
process of )*+ using a single organisation and a single product. 5hus it cannot be
generalised to the )*+ process in /23s.
~ 43 ~
References8
Armstrong> 4. And Aotler> *% ,200 ,(
th
ed.-. Cpper
/addle i#er> )G 8 *earson 3ducation> Inc.
Assael> F. ,1.(5-. Marketing Management Strategy and Action. Boston8 Aent
*ublishing Company.
Barc1ak> 4.> 4riffin> A. and Aahn> A.B. ,200.-> *erspecti#e8 5rends and +ri#ers of
/uccess in )*+ *ractices8 esults of the 2003 *+2A Best *ractices /tudy> Journal
of Product Innoation Management> 2$> pp. 3723.
Barnes> +. ,2002-> 5he 2anufacturing /trategy
rmation *rocess in /mall And2edium7si1ed 3nterprises> Journal of Small Business and !nterprise "eelopment>
.,2-> pp. 13071%..
Bea#er> 4. And *rince> C. ,200%-> 2anagement> strategy and policy in the CA small
business sector8 a critical re#iew> Journal of Small Business and !nterprise
"eelopment> 11 ,1-> pp. 3%7%..
Boone> '. 3. and Aurt1> +. '. ,1...-. #ontemporary Marketing.
rt Horth ;'ondon 8 +ryden *ress.
Boo17Allen E Familton Inc. ,1.$(-. Management of $ew Products> ,%
th
ed.-.
)ewJork.
Bradley> :. ,1..5-. Marketing Management. 'ondon8 *rentice Fall.
Brassington> :. and *ettitt> /. ,200$-. Principles of Marketing> ,%
th
ed.-.)ew Jork 8
*rentice Fall.
Brassington> :. And *ettitt> /. ,200$-. Principles of Marketing> ,%
th
3d.-. 3sse6 8
*earson 3ducation 'td.
Brown> /. '. And 3isenhardt> A. 2. ,1..5-> *roduct +e#elopment8 *ast esearch>
*resent :indings> and :uture +irections> %he Academy of Management &eiew> 20
,2-> pp. 3%373 A. and Bell> 3. ,200 ,2
nd
3d.-. !6ford8
!6ford Cni#ersity *ress Inc.
Cawood> 4. ,1.. +esign And Inno#ation Culture in /23s> "esign Management
~ 44 ~
Journal> 9ol. ( ,%-> pp. $$7 C.C. and /hiu> 3.C. ,200(-> Critical /uccess :actors of )ew *roduct
+e#elopment in 5aiwan=s 3lectronics Industry> Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and
'ogistics> 20,2-> pp. 1 . 4. ,1...-> :rom 36perience 5he In#isible /uccess :actors in *roduct
Inno#ation> Journal of Product Innoation Management> 1$> pp. 1157133.
Cooper> .4. ,1..0-> /tage74ate /ystem8 A new tool for 2anaging )ew *roducts>
Business (ori)on> 33,3-> pp.%%75%.
Cooper> .4. and Aleinschmidt> 3.G. ,1.($-> An in#estigation into the )ew *roduct
*rocess8 /teps> +eficiencies> and Impact> Journal of Product Innoation Management>
3> pp. .4. and Aleinschmidt> 3.G. ,1..%-> +eterminants of 5imeliness in *roduct
+e#elopment> Journal of Product Innoation Management> 11> pp. 3(173.$.
Cooper> .4. and Aleinschmidt> 3.G.,1..5-> Benchmarking the :irm=s Critical
/uccess :actors in )ew *roduct +e#elopment. Journal of Product innoation
management> 12> pp. 32 and Benedetto> A.+. ,200(-. $ew Products Management> ,(
th
3d.-.
2c4raw7Fill International 3dition.
3uropean Commission ,2003->5he new /23 definition. T!nlineU
A#ailable at8
http 8LLec.europa.euLenterpriseLenterpriseQpolicyLsmeQdefinitionLinde6Qen.htm
TAccessed 10 Guly 200.U.
3#ans> G.. and Berman>B% ,1.. ,<
th
3d.-. Cpper /addle i#er> )G8
*rentice Fall.
:ilson> A. and 'ewis> A. ,2000-> Barriers Between +esign and Business /trategy>
+esign 2anagement Gournal> 11,%-> pp. %(752.
:reel> 2. /. ,2000-> Barriers to *roduct Inno#ation in /mall 2anufacturing :irms>
International Small Business Journal> 1(,2-> pp. $07(0.
4hauri> * and 4ronhaug> A. ,2005-> &esearch Methods In Business Studies: A
Practical *uide> ,3
rd
3d.-. Farlow8 :inancial 5imes *rentice Fall.
~ 45 ~
4ibb> A. And /cott> 2. ,1.(5-> /trategic Awareness> *ersonal Commitment And 5he
*rocess of *lanning In 5he /mall Business> Journal of Management Studies> 22 ,$->
pp. 5. H. 3. C. ,2000-. Case /tudy esearch 2ethods. 'ondon8 Continuum.
Fart> /.> 51okas> ). and /aren>2. ,1...-> 5he effecti#eness of market information in
enhancing new *roduct success rates> !uropean Journal of innoation management>
2,1-> pp. 20725.
Gean 2c)iff> G. and Hhitehead> G. ,200$-. All +ou $eed %o ,now About Action
&esearch. 'ondon 8 /A43 *ublications
Gobber> +. ,200 ,5
th
3d.-. 2aidenhead8
2c4raw7Fill 3ducation.
Gohne> A. ,1..2-> +on=t 'et Jour Customers 'ead Jou Astray in +e#eloping )ew
*roducts> !uropean Management Journal> 10 ,1-> pp. (07(%.
Gohne> A. ,1..$-. /ucceeding at *roduct +e#elopment In#ol#es 2ore 5han A#oiding
:ailure> !uropean Management Journal> 1%,2-> pp.1 2.:.. ,1..$-> 5he Anatomy of 5he 3ntrepreneur8 Clinical
!bser#ations> (uman &elations> %. , pp.(537((3.
Ainnear> 5. C.> Bernhardt> A. '. ,1.($-. Principles of Marketing> ,2
nd
ed.-. 4len#iew>
Ill8 /cott>
resman.Aotler> * and Aeller> A.'. ,200.-. Marketing Management> ,13
th
3d.-. Cpper /addle
i#er> )G 8 *earson 3ducation> Inc.
2a"aro> /. ,1..3-. %he #reatie Marketer. !6ford8 Butterworth Feinemann in
association with the Chartered Institute of 2arketing.
2athot> 4. B. 2. ,1.(2-> Fow to 4et )ew *roducts to 2arket &uicker> 'ong &ange
Planning> 15 ,$-> pp. 20730.
2c)eal> G.C. and Gi> 2.:. ,1...-. Chinese children as consumers8 an analysis of their
new product information sources> Journal of #onsumer Marketing>1$,%-> pp. 3%573$%.
2eyer> 2.F. and Ctterback> G.2. ,1..3-> 5he *roduct :amily and the +ynamics of
~ 46 ~
Core Capability> Sloan Management &eiew> 3%,3-> pp. 2.7% 2. B. ,1..%-. -ualitatie "ata Analysis: An !.panded Sourcebook> ,2
nd
3d.-.
5housand !aks> Calif.; 'ondon 8 /age> 1..%.
2illward> F and 'ewis> A. ,2005-> Barriers to successful new product de#elopment
within small manufacturing companies. Journal of Small Business and !nterprise
"eelopment> 12,3->pp 3 A.> Burke> 4. And 2yers> A% ,200 Inno#ation types and performance in
growing C.A. /23s> International Journal of /perations 0 Production Management>
2 Strategic
Management Journal> 23,.-> pp. (557($$.
obson> C. ,2002-. eal world research8 a resource for social scientists and
practitioner7researchers>, 2
nd
3d.-. !6ford8 Blackwell.
/aren> 2. ,200$-. Marketing *raffiti %he 2iew From %he Street. !6ford8
Butterworth7Feinemann.
/aunders> 2.> 'ewis> *. And 5hornhill> A. ,200.-. &esearch Methods for Business
Students. ,5
th
3d.-. )ew Jork8 *rentice Fall.
/imon> 2.> 3lango>B.> Foughton> /. 2. and /a#elli> /3 ,2002-> 5he /uccessful
*roduct *ioneer8 2aintaining Commitment while Adapting to Change> Journal of
Small Business Management4 %0 ,3-> pp. 1( V. 2. And 2ontoya7Heiss> 2. 2. ,1..(-> Critical +e#elopment Acti#ities for
eally )ew #ersus Incremental *roducts> Journal of Product Innoation
Management> 13> pp. 12%7135.
/ong> V. 2. and *arry. 2. 3. ,1..%-> 5he +imensions of Industrial )ew *roduct
/uccess and :ailure In /tate 3nterprises In 5he *eopleNs epublic of China> Journal
~ 47 ~
of Product Innoation Management> 11 ,2-8 105711(.
/ong> V. 2. and *arry. 2. 3. ,1..$-> Hhat /eparates Gapanese )ew *roduct Hinners
:rom 'osers> Journal of Product Innoation Management> 13 ,5-> pp. %227%3..
/ong> V. 2. and *arry. 2. 3. ,1.. 5he +eterminants of Gapanese )ew product
/uccess> Journal of Marketing &esearch> 3% ,1-> pp. $%7 F. and )onaka> I. ,1.($-> 5he new new product de#elopment game>
(arard Business &eiew> Gan7:eb> pp. 13 .2. ,2003-. Blending 5ualitatie 0 5uantitatie research methods in theses
and dissertations. 5housand !aks8 Corwin *ress.
Crban> 4. '. and Fauser. G. . ,1..3-. +esign and marketing of new products> ,2
nd
3d.-. 3nglewood Cliffs> )G 8 *rentice7Fall.
9ery1er> .H. ,1..(-> +iscontinuous Inno#ation and the )ew *roduct +e#elopment
*rocess> Journal of Product Innoation Management> 15> pp. 30%7321.
Hind> G. And 2aha"an> 9% ,1.. Journal of Marketing &esearch>
3%,1-> pp. 1712
Hoodcock> +. G.> 2osey> /. *. And Hood> 5. B. H. ,2000-> )ew product de#elopment
in British /23s> !uropean Journal of Innoation Management> 3, %-> pp. 2127221.
Jin> . A. ,200.-> Case /tudy esearch8 +esign and 2ethods> ,%
th
3d.-. 'os Angeles>
TCalif.U ; 'ondon 8 /A43.
~ 48 ~
doc_525407035.doc