The purpose of this thesis is to explore how the standardization of a New Product Development (NPD) process affects creativity and efficiency. The research was conducted on a case company through several interviews with employees connected to the process with various experience within the company. Standardization and creativity have in the past been considered to be mutually exclusive. However, recent research shows a connection between them and suggests that they could complement each other. This thesis is built upon a framework of six factors affecting creativity in NPD and has further explored how these are connected to efficiency as well. The research concludes that creativity and efficiency in NPD can work in harmony, complementing and supporting each other by focusing on the content rather than the process.

The organization I work in has 13 subsidiary businesses operating in the branded footwear and apparel industry. The industry currently faces significant macroeconomic and industry challenges. One of our biggest challenges is how to avoid excessive and wasteful new product development whilst still building an attractive range of products for the customer. So the focus of my research is on the management control and governance of the New Product Development (NPD) process to solve a pressing business problem. However, there is a gap in the literature. Many authors have claimed that our knowledge of the governance of NPD processes is incomplete and there is a dearth of actual studies in this area. My literature review looked at management control and in particular at the enduring problem of the need to generate control without stifling creativity. The literature led me to focus on the use of feedforward controls to influence NPD management teams to improve portfolio value and strategic alignment whilst simultaneously encouraging NPD experimentation. During this research I developed the concept of Feedforward Anticipatory Control (FAC), which encompasses the combination of feedforward control and double-loop learning. From this start my research question became “How does the use of FAC influence NPD management teams to improve portfolio value and strategic alignment?” From theory and my initial case study research I developed, tested and refined a tool for ascertaining the level of FAC sophistication in use by NPD teams in their development process. The tool was then used in action research interventions to help the teams develop their sophistication in the use of FAC. The tool was found to be useable, useful and have value. The action research case studies were embedded in a case study protocol to ensure the rigour of my research. This involved developing a framework to investigate the consequences of my interventions, in terms of both hard performance metrics and softer team perceptions. The contribution is in the use of management controls in NPD. The findings show that different levels of FAC sophistication can be applied in NPD and that the use of higher levels of FAC influences NPD teams to improve portfolio value and strategic alignment. The contribution to practice is an intervention “toolkit” that can influence NPD teams to develop higher levels of FAC sophistication and generate improvements in NPD portfolio performance.

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The purpose of this thesis is to investigate factors which influences product launch strategies.

This master's thesis is focused on evaluation of product innovation from company Nutricia a.s. Main objective of this thesis is to analyse Nutrilon marketing strategy for entering new product category. Furthermore, base on outputs from own marketing research and analyses of provided company data, to evaluate suitability of chosen marketing strategy and to suggest recommendations to achieve set goals.

Este trabalho trata dos métodos de desenvolvimento de novos produtos e serviços em startups digitais. Seu objetivo é explorar a prática atual das startups digitais, buscando um melhor entendimento de quais processos e práticas são utilizados, como eles são escolhidos e qual a percepção das startups sobre a adequação destes métodos no desenvolvimento de seus produtos e serviços. Para atingir este objetivo foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, através de entrevistas em profundidade. O roteiro de entrevista foi criado a partir do estudo de processos clássicos, como o Stage-gate, e de processos emergentes, como o Lean Startup e o Design Thinking. Para este trabalho foram entrevistadas 10 startups e as entrevistas foram analisadas quanto ao seu conteúdo, através da análise temática. A análise é apresentada a partir de três grandes temas: processos e práticas em uso; influências e critérios para seleção de processos e práticas; e a percepção dos entrevistados sobre a adequação destes processos e práticas. Como resultados, identificou-se que as startups não seguem nenhum processo específico de forma completa, mas criam um método de trabalho a partir da adaptação de diversas influências, sendo que o processo de maior influência é o Lean Startup. O desenvolvimento dos produtos segue uma abordagem iterativa, adaptativa e centrada no usuário. O método de trabalho é considerado adequado e diretamente vinculado aos resultados, sendo que o desenvolvimento iterativo e centrado no usuário é considerado necessário para o tipo de negócio de uma startup digital. / This study is concerned with the methods for New Product and Services Development in digital startups. Its purpose is to explore current practice of digital startups to develop a better understanding of what processes and practices are used, how they are chosen and how startups perceive the suitability of these methods. To achieve this goal, a qualitative research was carried out, through in-depth interviews supported by a semi-structured interview guide. The guide was based on the study of classic processes, such as the Stage-gate, and emerging processes, such as Lean Startup and Design Thinking. Ten startups were interviewed. The results of the interviews were analysed for their content, using thematic analysis approach. The final analysis is based on three main themes: processes and practices in use, influences and criteria for process and practice selection, and interviewees' perception of the adequacy of processes and practices. It was identified that the startups do not adopt any specific process completely, but rather create a work method from the adaptation of several influences. The most influential process is Lean Startup. The work processes follow an iterative, adaptive and user-centric approach. The work method is considered adequate and directly linked to the results, and the user-centered and iterative development is considered necessary for the context of a digital startup.

<p>The world is a very competitive place, every day companies from all over the globe try to be on the edge of their fields in order to keep a good distance from competitors. They have found in the new product development process or NPD the leverage they needed to build up that differentiation required to get ahead over competitors. When looking inside the NPD we decided to focus on a very critical and interesting stage, the business analysis process. The purpose sought with our research is to provide a better understanding of how small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) carry out their business analysis stage in the process of new product development (NPD), this purpose was first obtained by stating a main problem and to facilitate the answer to this main problem we proposed two research questions that were later used to review all of the related literature, which resulted in a conceptual framework 2employed to guide this study’s data collection. We decided to use the inductive approach and the use of primary data collected with the help of interviews with companies representing SMEs using a qualitative case study approach through all interviews. It is important to mention that the interviews were also designed with the help of the research questions.</p><p>The results allowed us to develop a model that shows how the business analysis process looks like in the companies studied as well as to highlight the most relevant factors for the two companies studied when performing the business analysis. Finally the research let us establish some suggestions for future researches regarding the business analysis process such as the differences between small and medium enterprises and larger firms, and the cross-functional activities involved in a business analysis process in larger firms.</p>

This study argues that a firm's product location choice may be a function of the firm's way of splitting the product market (i.e., divisionalization) and the concern for product cannibalization at the division and the firm levels. The focus of this study is at the division level and a division's new product location choice vis-à-vis its own products (intra-divisional new product distance), the products of a rival division of competing firms (inter-firm divisional new product distance), and the products of a sister division of the same firm (intra-firm divisional new product distance). The hypotheses were tested using data on the U.S. automobile industry between 1979 and 1999. The results show that a focal division with a high level of inter-firm divisional domain overlap with a rival division, relative to the focal division's own domain, is more likely to locate its new product (here new car model) closer to that rival's existing car models. And it was also found that divisional density affects a division's new product location choice. But this study didn't find any significant role of divisional status on new product location choice. And contrary to our expectation, the results of intra-firm divisional domain overlap and new product location choice suggest that inter-divisional product cannibalization might not be such an important concern when divisions introduce their new products, as we had originally expected. By addressing the firm's competitive engagement in the context of a division's new product location choice, this study expands the basic logic of market overlap at the firm level into the unit- or division-level, and highlights how a division's new product location choice is affected by intra-firm divisional structural relationship as well as interfirm divisional structural relationship. In so doing, this study hopes to contribute to the literature on divisionalization, new product location choice, competition at the unit-level, and product cannibalization, among others.

The thesis is conducted to investigate how packaging is taken into consideration within the new product development process and in which stages of the new product development process packaging actually is taken into consideration. Further we want to investigate if packaging has increased in importance within the activities of the new product development process, and how organizations deal with standardization of packaging for international markets in the new product development process. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how packaging of convenience goods is an integrated part of the international new product development process. We have chosen a qualitative approach. The study was conducted through in-depth interviews, face-to-face and by phone. The interviewees were selected through judgemental sampling. The sample included eight organi-zations producing convenience goods that are active on several markets. It was found that packaging always has been of importance; however, it was found that packaging has increased in importance within concept development implying that packaging indirectly has increased in importance within the new product development process. Further, packaging is included in all stages in the process, but has its ma-jor significance in the concept development phase. International organizations need to consider the level of standardization throughout the process.

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