In new product development (NPD) unacceptably high failure rates have often been related to insufficiencies during the early development phases. Nevertheless, only little effort is devoted to the early phases, in theory as well as in practice, and managers often indicate the front end as being...

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...

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 research as well as in practice, process models are an expatiated element of innovation management. They fulfill different tasks. In practice, for instance, process models are used as a management tool to standardize development activities. Researchers try to identify activities to be found...

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...

The fast transformation of technologies into new products or processes is one of the core challenges for any technology-based enterprise. Within the innovation process, we believe, the early phases ("fuzzy front end") to have the highest impact on the whole process and the result (Input-Output...

Sowohl in der Forschung als auch in der Praxis sind Prozessmodelle ein wichtiger Bestandteil des Innovationsmanagements. Hierbei erfüllen Prozessmodelle die unterschiedlichsten Aufgaben. In der Praxis werden beispielsweise Prozessmodelle als Managementtool eingesetzt, um real ablaufende...

In der einschlägigen Literatur wird in der Regel das Bild stark formalisierter und methodengestützter Innovationsprozesse aufgezeichnet, das primär für große Unternehmen zutreffend erscheint. Inwieweit sich diese Vorstellung auch auf Organisationen geringerer Größe übertragen lässt,...

In a study of New Product Development (NPD) projects, the fuzzy front end of innovation is explored. The New Product Development process is a multistage process. Therefore, the study examines two sorts of impact that the fuzzy front end has on the success of New Product Development: a direct...

In new product development (NPD) unacceptably high failure rates have often been related to insufficiencies during the early development phases. Nevertheless, only little effort is devoted to the early phases, in theory as well as in practice, and managers often indicate the front end as being...