In this paper we report on the results of an interview research about new product development (NPD) processes and planning in 15 Japanese mechanical and electrical engineering companies. We asked the companies to describe one successful and one less successful project. All in all, we collected...

In this paper, we report on the results of a large-scale study about typical front-end-related innovation practices in 553 Japanese mechanical and electrical engineering companies. We explore typical activities concerning the generation and assessment of new product ideas, the reduction of...

The domain of New Product Development (NPD) is subject to considerable uncertainties. However, companies are required to manage the innovation process as efficiently as possible. The resulting conflicting demands often leave companies struggling to achieve both, efficiency as well as flexibility...

In this paper, we are going to report on the results of an exploratory piece of research about the typical front-end-related activities in 28 innovation projects carried out by 14 German and 13 Japanese companies to reduce project uncertainty. In all cases we observed a range of activities to...

In this paper, we report the complete and unabridged results of an exploratory study of typical front-end activities in 28 innovation projects in German and Japanese companies. We further reveal differences in the practice of innovation management in both countries. Based on these, we develop...

In a study of Japanese New Product Development (NPD) projects, the fuzzy front end of innovation is explored. Our conceptual model is based on the information-processing perspective. A structual equation model was fitted to data from 497 NPD projects from Japanese mechanical and electrical...

This paper presents a literature review discussing empirical as well as conceptual papers concerning the CTO - the Chief Technology Officer - his tasks, responsibilities and authority and his relations with other corporate functions. It further presents first results of a CTO survey conducted in...

Unternehmen, die Produkte der nächsten Generation entwickeln, stehen oft vor folgendem Problem: Orientieren sie ihre Entwicklung zu stark an den heutigen Kunden und Anwendern, resultieren oft nur kleine Innovationen ("inkrementale Innovation"). Lösen Sie sich hingegen von diesen Anwendern,...

"Strong market orientation is essential for innovation success!" Although both academics and market research practitioners would generally accept this statement, alignment with the needs of the customer often results in conservative innovation strategies. Due to their focus on what is currently...