Risks in new product development (NPD) projects

New product development (NPD) is vulnerable to a wide variety of risks arising from within the firm or from the external environment. Existing categorizations of NPD project risks are partial or ill-defined and consequently there is no clear consensus among researchers and practitioners about what constitute NPD project risks. To address this gap, this thesis deploys a systematic literature methodology to inductively develop a comprehensive risk taxonomy from a review of 124 empirical studies. This taxonomy is then empirically validated through a survey capturing data from 263 NPD projects conducted by UK firms. The thesis further investigated the moderating effect of NPD project type (incremental or radical), firm size (SMEs and large firms) and industry sectors on the proposed risk taxonomy. Variation in the perceptions of NPD risk by different members of the team was explored as well. The findings revealed that the principal risk factors affecting NPD projects are technological rapidity risk, supply chain risk, lack of funding and resource risk. The risk profile of radical NPD projects differed to that of incremental projects. SMEs were more vulnerable to NPD project risks than large firms. Most risks influenced NPD projects equally across industrial sectors. Members of NPD project teams from different backgrounds or with different roles perceived risks differently. The proposed taxonomy and its subsequent empirical validation provides a comprehensive and robust taxonomy for identifying and managing risks associated with different types of NPD project conducted by firms of varying sizes from different industrial sectors

Agile software development in large-scale new product development organization: team level perspective

Many modern intelligent products and systems (e.g., automotive, consumer electronics, telecommunications) contain more and more embedded software. Often the new product development (NPD) companies developing such products operate under turbulent circumstances stemming from the business environment, technology development and other, even disruptive sources. The embedded software development functions of such NPD organizations then face the uncertainties directly or indirectly, often coupled with time-to-market, quality and productivity pressures. Agile software development has been advocated as a new way of coping with such circumstances in particular with small independent teams developing customer-driven software products. This thesis investigates in contrast how it can be utilized with embedded software development teams in large-scale market-driven industrial NPD context. The exploratory, problem-driven research process is based on interpretive design science and action research principles. The author worked as a full-time software quality and process development specialist employee inside the case organization, thus acting as a reflective practitioner. The longitudinal study research cycles were conducted over several years in that particular NPD organization context. The cycle viewpoints evolved from first recognizing typical software project problems and uncertainties, and developing certain solutions to software team knowledge management and software process model selection. This development led to consider, what problems current agile software methods address. The realization of agile software development was then further examined with respect to the cost factors, and finally towards integrating agile software product development teams into larger-scale NPD organization. The main result of this research is that agile software development models address many typical key issues in large-scale industrial NPD context, and the cost/benefit factors are in principle justifiable. However, if agile software methods are applied just bottom-up trying to integrate isolated agile software teams into larger organizational context, this inside-out approach leads often to problems with organizational barriers and impediments. Thus, in order to be able to leverage the potential benefits, agile software development should be approached more from the strategic business perspective (outside-in), viewing the software development functions as elements of the total value-creation system in the NPD organization. Different software development (project) teams may have different roles and needs for agility in this complex over time. The contributions imply that rational software team-level improvements require in many cases wider, even enterprise-level perspectives in creating and improving the agile capabilities of the NPD organization. It is thus fundamental to conceptualize agility in the NPD context by combining software development with the overall NPD processes. In particular in large organizations, the improvements may require more actions at the organizational level than in software teams

Developing digital transformative capabilities of industrial businesses by leveraging the industrial internet of things

Industrial businesses are going through a period of digital disruption and firms are under severe pressure to undertake Digital Transformation and leverage the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Yet, there is next to no scholarly guidance for such an endeavour. Most industrial firms are developing their Digital Transformation strategies, however, they are not sure what kind of capabilities they should develop for such transformation. Though there is limited academic literature about Digital Transformation and how firms are developing digital transformative capabilities, a systematic literature review was performed to disentangle capability transformation processes and how firms are developing dynamic capabilities to remain competitive in a high-velocity environment. The current study extended dynamic capability theory and proposed digital transformative capabilities (DTCs) for Digital Transformation. To understand the IIoT landscape and how it influences Digital Transformation, an industry review was performed. The research was conducted in two phases. Based on the literature review and industry review, in the first phase, two qualitative exploratory studies were performed. The preliminary exploratory study was conducted to get an understanding of the IIoT landscape and how firms were developing capabilities for transformation. Based on the insights from preliminary exploratory study, a detailed exploratory study was performed which revealed critical themes for Digital Transformation and, based on these themes, a conceptual framework for Digital Transformation was derived. The conceptual framework was divided into two models. The front-end model viii identified three DTCs (Business Model Transformation, Operating Model Transformation and Cultural Transformation), three inputs (Digital Twin, Digital Thread and Digital Mindset) and the factors influencing the DTCs. The back-end model examined the influence of DTCs on dynamic capabilities, which may be indicative of digital transformation in a company. In the second phase, these two models were tested through a quantitative analysis, utilizing data generated from 107 respondents from 87 industrial companies via a self-reported online questionnaire and the application of multiple linear regression analysis. The Digital Twin is widely touted as an important input for DTC but the result did not support that. Digital Thread as an input for DTC was supported and Digital Mindset as an input for DTC was partially supported. Using moderator analysis, important insights were identified. The moderators, Technology Turbulence, Market Turbulence, Competitor Turbulence and Path Dependency had some positive moderation effects. The positive influence of ‘DTC – Business Model Transformation’ on dynamic capabilities which may be indicative of digital transformation in a company was not supported. However, the positive influence of ‘DTC – Operating Model Transformation’ was supported and ‘DTC – Cultural Transformation’ was partially supported. The moderation effects of ecosystem partnership and resource scarcity and constraints were partially supported, and the moderation effects of customer and market demands and digital commitment were not supported or refuted.</div

The impact of the internal organisational environment on NSD knowledge management and NSD performance.

Building on a diverse stream of literature, knowledge strategy and NSD in particular, the theory investigated in this research is that service firms can use knowledge strategy to improve the innovation performance of their business. Although scholars are now beginning to organise their research agendas around a set of explicit hypotheses concerning the causes and effects of knowledge intensive environments, knowledge management has only recently emerged as an explicit area of pursuit for managing firms. This research empirically investigated knowledge management activity in the context of NSD, and as such provides insight into a subject area previously lacking in rigorous empirical studies. Previous research in the field of NSD has tended to concentrate its focus on the financial services market. In contrast, this research drew its sample from a wider population and identified that many of the findings appear to be generalisable across a number of business markets, both in a consumer and business context. In adopting a knowledge-based view of a service business, this research conceptualised a notion of NSD Knowledge Environment( NKE) to represent the way in which knowledge supports the business' ability to develop new services across a NSD programme. The nine unique bundles of resources which comprise the NKE (knowledge depth; knowledge dispersion; NSD memory, personal interaction; climate of learning; creative climate; entrepreneurial climate; collaborative climate; goal climate) were found to be capable of yielding sustainable, above-normal business performance. The NKE was discovered to have a significant impact on the service business' overall NSD programme performance across four distinct measures: financial; new opportunities; customer responsiveness innovation. Whilst service firms were found to be aware of the importance of knowledge resources to their business, few had embraced a business-wide' framework, for managing- particular knowledge 'assets.' This research therefore indicates the importance of addressing the need for. a knowledge management framework targets specifically at NSD success. Whilst the NKE was discovered to have a'significant impact on the service business' overall ability to develop innovative new products supports the findings of previous research, interestingly, this research identified a multi-dimensional concept of innovativeness, comprising both measures of innovative outcomes and innovative processes. The more innovative NSD programmes were found to be more successful on many' other performance dimensions (financial'and nonfinancial) than their counterparts,i. e. innovative NSD programmes were more successful than their competition on all dimensions, aswell as having a very high percentage of sales and profits originating from new services introduced in the last three years. The overall implication of this research is that if a firm's scarcer resources are the source of improved economic performance, it follows that supportive knowledge practices and a supportive internal knowledge environment must be created to ensure these assets are leveraged successfully

Dynamic Capability Building through partnering: An Australian Mobile handset case Study

Dynamic capabilities are increasingly seen as an organisational characteristic for innovation and are regarded as a source of competitive advantage. In a quest for sustainability, service organisations are partnering with their stakeholders, and subsequently are aptly bringing innovation in services to market. Most of existing empirical research regarding dynamic capabilities seeks to define and identify specific dynamic capabilities, as well as their organizational antecedents or effects. Yet, the extent to which the antecedents of success in particular dynamic capabilities, contribute to innovation in service organisations remains less researched. This study advances the understanding of such dynamic capability building process through effective collaboration, and highlights the detailed mechanisms and processes of capability building within a service value network framework to deliver innovation in services. Deploying a case study methodology, transcribing interviews with managers and staff from an Australian telco and its partnering organisations, results show that collaboration, collaborative organisational learning, collaborative innovative capacity, entrepreneurial alertness and collaborative agility are all core to fostering innovation in services. Practical implications of this research are significant, and that the impacts of collaboration and the dynamic capabilities mentioned above are discussed in the context of a mobile handset case study

Exploratory learning and new product performance: The moderating role of cognitive skills and environmental uncertainty

[[abstract]]This study advances research on organizational learning and new product development (NPD) by examining the relationship between exploration and NPD performance while considering the moderating effects of cognitive skills and environmental uncertainty. Drawing on the cognitive perspective, we posited that A-shaped and T-shaped skills enhance NPD performance by hastening exploratory learning in NPD teams. Furthermore, we argued that exploration is advantageous in conditions of high technological and market uncertainty. Based on a survey of 198 NPD projects from IT firms located in Taiwan, we found that exploration is positively related to NPD performance, and that both A-shaped skills of team leaders a well as technological uncertainty significantly moderated this focal relationship

The effects of communication and problem-solving pattern on collaborative product development performance

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Resilience capabilities in the face of environmental turbulence: a case of Hong Kong small to medium enterprises

This thesis adopts an explanatory sequential mixed-approach, incorporating two inter-related studies investigates the resilience capabilities of Hong Kong-based SMEs. Specifically, the overall objective is to empirically examine the multidimensionality of resilience capability, and how each dimension is developed, utilized, and evolved over time and in various contexts. Study 1 involves a survey of 177 Hong Kong-based SMEs and explores the interrelationship between resilience capabilities and firm performance, and the moderating impact of environmental turbulence on these relationships. Extending the findings of Study 1, Study 2 involves an in-depth qualitative examination of the ways in which SMEs utilize resilience capabilities in strategy development for dealing with threats and opportunities. The objective of Study 2 is to address the issues that arose from Study 1 with the aim of providing an understanding of how relationships between dimensions are established pre-, during- and post-crisis phases. Through an in-depth review of literature across disciplines, survey and case study interviews, this thesis defines resilience as a multidimensional capability that is expressed through organizational strategies, comprising four dimensions (adaptability, agility, anticipatory ability and flexibility) that are conceptually and empirically distinct from one another.. These dimensions are articulated either proactively or reactively in the process of effective strategy development during pre-, at times of, or post crisis environments. Findings also reveal five ways of utilizing resilience capability during strategy development process (defining, founding, planning, redefining, conforming) with differential emphasis on dimensions at different phases of turbulent environments, be it pre-, during, or post-crisis conditions. These findings have important implications for strategy development, SME business practice, research and practice

Market-driving innovation: understanding the critical success factors at the front end of the development process

Although marketing scholars have investigated the significance of both radical and really new product innovations, the factors underpinning the success of such “market-driving” innovations remains elusive, especially at the front end of new-product development (NPD) process. Ensuring that future potential market-driving innovations are able to emerge from the front end of the NPD process into the development and commercialisation stages without losing their innovativeness is fraught with difficulty and is a key challenge for firms. Drawing upon the resource-based view (RBV) and the dynamic capability theory of the firm, this research examines the notion of Market Vision (MV) and its antecedent, Market Visioning Competence (MVC) to improve the “early performance” of market-driving innovations. The research extends the understanding of these factors through the incorporation of Absorptive Capacity (ACAP). Accordingly, a model is developed that integrates ACAP, MVC and MV with market-driving innovation performance, comprising before-launch stage performance, post-launch stage performance and financial performance. External and internal structural factors relevant to the firm such as size and the nature of its competitive environment are also considered as moderators in the model. The data were derived from a web-based survey of 179 managers from top innovative companies in Thailand. The focus of the research was at the NPD program level. The sample was primarily drawn from the 2011–2012 database of the National Innovation Agency, operating under the umbrella of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand (National Innovation Agency, 2011, 2012). The hypothesised relationships were tested using linear regression whilst the overall set of relationships was examined using structural equation modelling. A major contribution of this research is the finding that ACAP as a dynamic capability significantly and distinctly influences both MVC and MV at the front end of market-driving innovation. On one hand, the firm’s ability to acquire and assimilate knowledge can lead to a discovery of new knowledge for market-driving ideas. On the other hand, a firm’s ability to transform and exploit knowledge, fosters the entrepreneurial mindset and actions of individuals or NPD team members, and can directly influence opportunity recognition in MVC, as well as generating the new initiatives and knowledge that are essential to develop a shared mental model of radically new or really new product for future markets (the MV itself). The findings also indicate that MVC significantly and positively influences MV and that both of these constructs significantly and positively influence certain aspects of before-launch stage performance and post-launch stage performance. Significant positive relationships are also observed between these performance outcomes and the financial performance of market-driving innovations. Additionally, large firm size is shown to have a significant positive moderating effect on the way in which MV translates into post-launch stage performance outcomes. Overall, these findings are important in suggesting that the capability to visualise future potential product-markets (MVC/MV) and in combination with broader organisational level dynamic learning capabilities (ACAP) can lead firms to achieve better performance of market-driving innovations, from the front end of the development process and through to commercialisation