Affiliations: [a] School of Business, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, Christchurch, New Zealand | [b] College of Business and Economics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Gerrit Anton de Waal, School of Business, City Campus Madras Street, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, PO Box 540, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand. Tel.: +64 3 9407505; Fax: +64 3 9408602; E-mail: dewaala@cpit.ac.nz
Abstract: The paper addresses research issues in new product development (NPD) activity, practices and tools, in particular the need to integrate the set of tools practitioners use with the praxis of how they use these tools in day-to-day activity. It draws on the strategy-as-practice literature to derive a model that integrates the concepts of NPD practices, practitioners and praxis. It then draws on a systematic review and synthesis of existing NPD literature to develop a generic multi-stage, 12-perspective organizing framework for NPD activity, and provides examples from the literature of twelve corresponding classes of NPD tools. The literature currently lacks such a framework and hence uses individually defined schemes, resulting in a fragmented and incomplete picture. We have designed our generic framework so that it can both integrate existing findings and stimulate research that overcomes this fragmentation. We use the framework and our model of NPD practitioners, practices and project execution to articulate a comprehensive set of research challenges in NPD tool adoption and use. Our 12-perspective framework could also provide a basis for practitioners to develop or redesign NPD processes for specific situations and purposes.
Keywords: New product development, tools, activities, integrative framework, practice perspective, innovation
