MANAGERIAL FACTORS INFLUENCING SUCCESS OF NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

New product development is considered as one of the survival strategies for organisations with high risk which is related to extreme failure rate that should not be neglected. Among internal and contextual factors which affect winning or losing in new product development (NPD), the role of top management team as key decision makers is critical. The objective of our research is to explore managerial factors influencing success in new product development. To find out these factors, relevant literature was reviewed and specific top managers were interviewed. Afterwards, a survey was administrated to elicit the opinions of managers involved in NPD in accordance to the degree of each factor's importance. This study examined six factors assumed to be critical in top management level to achieve success in NPD including commitment, regulatory focus, entrepreneurial orientation, social capital, international orientation and tendency of top managers to future study.