The rapidly evolving global market scenario raised multiple challenges for an organization such as: change in customer needs and lifestyle, increased competition, compulsion to enter into new markets, pursue to innovate and so on, which raises an additional challenge for organization to sustain and succeed. In order to meet these multiple challenges, continuous New Product Development (NPD) turns out to be one of the essential tasks for any organization to improve market share, profitability and to succeed. In this scenario, a new product portfolio with best mix of new projects that ensures strategic alignment, balance of portfolio and improves organizations’ potential gain is compulsion. However, From the literature, it is observed that, ‘As nearly half of initial NPD ideas occur informally or without a specific goal, even a best performing organization requires a major improvement in the decision making process of Project Evaluation and Selection (PES)’. This emphasizes the significance of decision on Project Evaluation and Selection (PES) of NPD. Additionally, huge investments and resources need to be employed based on decision that is taken at PES phase of NPD. Thus PES turns out to be a crucial and essential phase of New Product Process (NPP). All these stated aspects of this challenging and crucial strategic decision of PES provoke for the requirement of an efficient management system and decision making model. In the literature the management system and decision making processes for formulation of portfolio is termed as “New Product Portfolio Management (NPPM)”. Though various researchers have been focusing on this particular issue of improving NPPM Performance, from the analysis of literature, to the best of our knowledge, it is observed that no one has identified or considered an exhaustive list of possible evaluative dimensions while taking the decision on PES of NPPM (PES-NPPM). This thesis makes an attempt to address this research gap, and the scope of this study is pertained to three sectors of manufacturing industry, namely, Automotive, Electronics and Machine Tools. Accordingly, the main objective of this thesis is “ In order to achieve this particular objective the following sub-objectives, methodologies, and analysis are carried out. For this purpose, first and foremost analysis of literature on PES is carried out. Accordingly, five evaluative dimensions are identified for PES-NPPM and they are: (i) Strategic Fit; (ii) Portfolio-Innovation Balance; (iii) Risk-Uncertainty Estimation; (iv) Cost-Revenue Estimation and (v) Optimized Resource Allocation. Furthermore, it is observed that, there is no study considering all the five evaluative dimensions simultaneously for PES-NPPM either to analyze their impact on performance of NPPM or to develop a decision making model. Thus, we are addressing a new problem configuration in the area of PES-NPPM. Additionally, though the requirements of multi-criteria models for PES-NPPM is discussed both in academic and practioners points of view, the real demonstration of the applicability of multi-criteria models are given a scant treatment in the literature. . By the end of the achieving this objective, we identified five distinct evaluative dimensions which are used in different combinations for PES-NPPM. Further, for measuring each of these five evaluative dimensions, we identified 23, 11, 15, 10, and 18 measurement variables respectively. Based on the evaluative dimensions considered in this study, a framework work is proposed for PES-NPPM. Due to the limitation of empirical evidences on considering the identified evaluative dimensions and respective measurement variables towards the proposed initial framework for PES-NPPM, another exploratory study: a case study method is carried out. In addition to the process of triangulation, the case study approach is carried out to understand (a) significance and nature of the identified measurement variables of all the five evaluative dimensions for PES-NPPM, and (b) real-life practices in decision making process of PES-NPPM and to identify the requirements of decision making tools. Accordingly, 12 case studies (4 each) from three manufacturing sectors, considered in this study, are conducted. Further, 12 case study reports are prepared and inferences are drawn. The inferences drawn are verified by conducting an individual brain-storming session with 3 academicians and 4 practitioners. The detailed analysis of the 12 case study reports endorsed the necessity of considering all the five identified evaluative dimensions in the proposed framework for PES-NPPM. In addition, the case study analysis revealed some of the variables originally considered for measuring the evaluative dimensions are not really the measurement variables, whereas those variables are expected to impact the decision making environment of PES-NPPM (or) NPPM Performance. Further those non-measurement variables are classified into (a) Characteristic Variables of PES-NPPM, and (b) Moderating variables for NPPM. Based on this, case study analysis identified 8 characteristic variables and 8 moderating variables. This specific observation resulted to analyze further the existing literature in order to identify if there exist any additional variables which impact decision making environment of PES-NPPM (or) NPPM Performance. Thus, from the analysis of literature and case study analysis 17 characteristic variable and 13 moderating variables are identified. Additionally, For this purpose, Partial Least Square – Path Modeling (PLS-PM) (or) regression analysis is conducted depending upon type of variables with 104 observations (representing 34, 39, and 31 observations of the three sectors respectively) to analyze the relationships between characteristic and moderating variables on decision-making environment of PES-NPPM and NPPM Performance respectively. From case study analysis, it is observed that the decision making tool required should provide: (a) ability to incorporate judgmental scores along with financial and other quantitative metrics, (b) ability to attain a balance of portfolio and consider interactions among project, and (c) ability to provide alternatives and rank the alternatives. In addition to the observation drawn from the case study analysis on the need of MCDM based tool(s), analysis of the literature is carried out to verify the same. As this problem scenario considers both quantitative and qualitative data for the development of a decision making tool, an appropriate technique/methodology needs to be employed. Based on analysis of literature and the case study reports, this study proposes an integrated Data Envelopment Analysis and Balanced Scorecard (DEA-BSC) model for individual PES. Further, the proposed DEA-BSC model is extended for evaluation of new product portfolio. In the process of formulation of new product portfolio, first, every new product project is evaluated with the proposed integrated DEA-BSC model. Second, an algorithm is designed to generate alternate portfolios with the selected set of efficient new product projects. Then, DEA-BSC model is employed to evaluate the generated portfolios. At this step, an accumulation functions are proposed which considers interactions among projects. These accumulation functions determine the overall input and output of the portfolio along with interactions involved. Accordingly, the proposed integrated DEA-BSC model for portfolio evaluation is expected to result in a balanced portfolio with profitable new product projects. In addition, the workability of the proposed integrated DEA-BSC model is demonstrated by developing a suitable numerical example. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is carried out on proposed DEA-BSC model to analyze the robustness of the results. In summary, this thesis examined a problem of decision making of NPPM. Further, this problem was retained with main focus on PES phase. Accordingly, the major contributions of this thesis are as follows: Identified an exhaustive lists of evaluative dimensions: (i) Strategic Fit; (ii) Portfolio-Innovation Balance; (iii) Risk-Uncertainty Estimation; (iv) Cost-Revenue Estimation and (v) Optimized Resource Allocation. Also identified the significance of these five dimensions in case of PES-NPPM. In addition, all the five evaluative dimensions are considered simultaneously for development of a multi criteria decision making tool for PES-NPPM. Identified the required measurement variables for each of the evaluative dimensions, considered in this study, that are essential for PES, and analyzed their influence on performance of NPPM. Identified and analyzed characteristic and moderating variables that influence decision making environment of PES-NPPM and performance of NPPM respectively. Identified the requirements of a decision making tool for PES-NPPM and developed an integrated DEA-BSC model for PES. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed integrated DEA-BSC model is considered to be the first hybrid model applied to PES-NPPM. Furthermore for implementing the proposed DEA-BSC model, an algorithm is proposed in this study and this is expected to assist decision maker for selecting the right set of projects for new product portfolio with higher development potential, profitability and minimize the associated risk. Identified possible project interactions caused due to external or internal factors and accordingly proposed an accumulation function to capture these interactions. Proposed an algorithm for formulation of new product portfolio and accordingly proposed a detail step-by-step procedure for implementation of the proposed integrated DEA-BSC model. Though this study analyzes the impact of characteristic variables on decision-making environment of PES-NPPM, we limit to link this impact to DEA-BSC Model. In this study, an attempt is made to capture the moderating effect on NPPM Performance, but this study limits to link this moderating effect in proposed DEA-BSC model. Finally, the validation of the workability of proposed DEA-BSC model is limited to the numerical example considered in the study and not to the real-life problems scenarios.

Abstract The importance of product development in companies has increased, as competition in many industries has turned global and product life cycles have become shorter. Despite the rich literature and the significance of product development in businesses, many organisations still struggle to develop products that meet market and customer needs. Furthermore, product development for a large number of international customers involves various stakeholders with conflicting needs. Thus, product development is increasingly complex to manage. This doctoral dissertation aims to improve the outcome of product development by clarifying the factors that initiate product development in companies, the relations of different external and internal stakeholders to these drivers, and how the needs of key stakeholders are obtained. The study focuses on the early product development phases of new product development (NPD) intensive companies that are based in Finland, but have major international operations and large customer bases. The research was carried out by collecting and analysing data from companies representing product development practices in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. The experiences of managers across different industries are utilised. This dissertation adopts a qualitative research approach, and surveys and interviews are utilised as the main data collection methods. This dissertation shows that many significant drivers for product development exist in companies. In addition, these drivers differ significantly between projects, companies, and even individuals. Based on the results, companies should clarify their product development drivers and align them among the relevant stakeholders to enhance the decision-making and focus of product development efforts. The study also reveals the relations between different external and internal stakeholders and the product development drivers, and the key stakeholders for the individual drivers. The results indicate that companies should identify the most important stakeholders based on the project drivers and allocate managerial attention appropriately. As expected, the research findings support previous studies by identifying customers as the most important external stakeholders in product development. On the other hand, the significance of product management among internal stakeholders is highlighted in the results. This dissertation indicates that companies should enable product management to lead collaboration with stakeholders close to customers in product development projects. The role of product management involves leading customer definition, representation, and customer needs identification for R&D. However, product management must also collaborate with many customer-related stakeholders in product development efforts. The main implication of this dissertation is a new managerial framework that, if successfully implemented, can significantly enhance product development outcomes by providing appropriate focus on customers and reducing unnecessary complexities through the clarification of the project drivers, the key stakeholders, and customer needs. / Tiivistelmä Tuotekehityksen merkitys yrityksille on kasvanut globaalin kilpailun ja tuote-elinkaarien lyhentymisten myötä. Lukuisista tutkimuksista ja tuotekehitystoiminnan tärkeydestä liiketoiminnalle huolimatta useilla organisaatioilla on edelleen haasteita kehittää markkinoiden ja asiakkaiden tarpeita vastaavia tuotteita. Lisäksi tuotekehityksessä isolle, kansainväliselle, asiakaskunnalle on mukana useita erilaisia sidosryhmiä, joiden tarpeet ovat ristiriidassa keskenään. Tämän takia tuotekehityksen johtamisesta on tullut entistä monimutkaisempaa. Tämä väitöskirja pyrkii parantamaan tuotekehityksen tulosta selventämällä tekijät, jotka ovat syynä tuotekehityksen aloittamiseen yrityksissä, erilaisten ulkoisten ja sisäisten sidosryhmien suhteet näihin tuotekehitysajureihin sekä miten tärkeimpien sidosryhmien tarpeet selvitetään. Tutkimus keskittyy tuotekehityksen alkuvaiheisiin Suomessa toimivissa yrityksissä, joilla on voimakas panostus tuotekehitykseen ja lisäksi merkittävää kansainvälistä toimintaa sekä suuri määrä asiakkaita. Tutkimus tehtiin keräämällä ja analysoimalla tietoa yritysten tuotekehityskäytännöistä sekä tuotantohyödykemarkkinoilla että kuluttajamarkkinoilla. Tietoa kerättiin myös eri teollisuudenaloilta. Tämä väitöskirja perustuu laadulliseen tutkimukseen ja tutkimusaineiston keräämisessä on hyödynnetty kyselytutkimuksia sekä haastatteluita. Tämä väitöskirja osoittaa, että yritysten tuotekehitykseen löytyy useita merkittäviä ajureita. Tämän lisäksi nämä ajurit eroavat merkittävästi projektien, yritysten ja jopa yksittäisten henkilöiden välillä. Tulosten perusteella yritysten pitäisi selvittää, mitkä ajurit ovat niiden liiketoiminnan kannalta olennaisimpia ja tarkentaa niitä tuotekehityksen päätöksenteon ja painopisteen parantamiseksi. Tutkimus paljastaa myös ulkoisten ja sisäisten sidosryhmien suhteet tuotekehitysajureihin sekä tärkeimmät sidosryhmät yksittäisille ajureille. Tulokset osoittavat, että yritysten pitäisi tunnistaa tärkeimmät sidosryhmät projektien ajureiden perusteella ja ottaa ajurit huomioon sidosryhmäjohtamisessa. Tutkimuksen löydökset tukevat aikaisempia tutkimuksia osoittaen asiakkaiden olevan tärkein ulkoinen sidosryhmä tuotekehityksessä, kun taas sisäisistä sidosryhmistä nousee esille tuotehallinta. Tämä väitöskirja osoittaa, että yritysten tuotekehitysprojekteissa tuotehallinnan tulisi johtaa asiakkaita lähellä oleviin sidosryhmiin liittyvää sidosryhmäyhteistyötä. Tuotehallinnan tehtäviin kuuluu asiakkaan määrittely, edustus ja asiakastarpeiden tunnistaminen. Tuotehallinnan pitää myös tehdä yhteistyötä useiden asiakkaisiin liittyvien sidosryhmien kanssa tuotekehityksen aikana. Tämä väitöskirja tarjoaa uuden johtamisen viitekehityksen, joka oikein toteutettuna voi parantaa merkittävästi tuotekehityksen lopputulosta. Projektin ajurien, tärkeimpien sidosryhmien ja asiakastarpeiden selventäminen varmistaa oikeanlaisen keskittymisen asiakkaisiin ja vähentää tarpeettomia monimutkaisuuksia tuotekehityksessä.

Breakthrough innovations are vital for the global economy and even our survival as a species. They appear as creative leaps and insights without obvious connection to existing knowledge and are extremely valuable to organisations, giving them significant competitive advantage. Historiometric and psychopathological evidence shows that breakthrough innovations are often associated with individuals and affective dysfunction; yet innovation today is widely held to be an organisational phenomenon operationalised though a model of creativity based on positive affective experiences and group activities which may be particularly unsuited to innovative thinkers. Research upon which the current paradigm for creativity and innovation are based is detached from real world outcomes and has been challenged as to its validity. Little data exists outside of experiments or indirect observation of naturally occurring affective experiences and the mood-creativity-innovation link has yet to be proven; we still know very little about how breakthrough innovations occur. This unique study addresses this significant gap in innovation research with a two-year longitudinal case study of a breakthrough innovation being developed for a multi-national Fast-Moving Consumer Goods company. It followed the journey of a lone innovator and attempts to answer the research question: “Can a fear of failure lead to breakthrough innovation?” The innovation space was investigated from three perspectives: technology, organisation and innovator, to build a picture of the highly immersive and emotionally charged experience of innovating. Many new insights were gained, and with extensive support from literature, new tools for the management of technology and the interface between innovators and organisations were developed, along with ground-breaking research into the mood-creativity innovation link. These are delivered through a series of four journal papers. The key finding from this research has been the discovery of the innovation-wave, a phenomenon which for the first time provides evidence for the mood-creativity-innovation link; intimately connecting real-world creative efficacy with emotion and specifically a ‘fear of failure’. From this finding a new theory and psycho-cognitive model for a distinct form of creativity called innovative thinking, driven by negative affect (mood) and specifically suited to achieving a breakthrough innovation through overcoming apparently insoluble problems, was posited and a hypothesis proposed and tested using a sophisticated innovation simulation developed especially for this purpose. Evidence from the case study and later experiment provide support for the research question and the lone innovator. This study makes a unique contribution to our understanding of creativity and innovation which could have a significant impact on how both are researched, taught and managed in the future. Being able to understand and possibly manipulate the innovation-wave, if proven correct, could be vitally important for maximising the potential for creating breakthrough innovations to the benefit of us all.

This article aims to turn the attention of researchers and practitioners in the innovation and engineering management field towards a more fine grained view on the influence of Information Technologies (IT) and New Product Development (NPD) capabilities on innovation outcomes in different stages of maturity. Computer Aided Innovation (CAI), as a specific but often overlooked category of IT-tools for innovation activities, is introduced as having the potential to positively influence the innovation supporting capabilities. Based on current and emerging developments in the fields of CAI and NPD, a revised version of the conceptual model of the CAI-NPD-systems maturity framework is proposed.

A rapidly changing environment for industrial technology companies operating on a global market has increased the competitiveness and accelerated the rate of new technologies. The demands on companies to be more efficient and innovative without compromising quality are thereby enlarged. To maintain competitiveness and meet customer expectation a well-functioning product development is essential. Correcting product quality issues on newly developed products becomes increasingly more expensive the later it takes place in the development process and problems that arise can often be linked to the product design. In order to secure that new product development projects efficiently can deliver high quality products without compromising cost targets and time-to-market Design Assurance can be applied during the product development. The intention is to uncover and detect problems in the design and prevent errors to occur in the engineering process, by executing controls to assure design has been completed according to standards and policies.  This project aims to investigate Design Assurance to further establish the concept at Alfa Laval BU HSS and describe how product quality is assured in product development. Analysis of literature studies, interviews at Alfa Laval BU HSS as well as benchmarking at three companies; Atlas Copco Industrial Technique, Getinge (Maquet Critical Care division) and Tetra Pak, provide the basis of the results in this study. The results show there are a number of factors greatly influencing an organization’s ability to ensure product quality in product development. Key factors identified in this study are cross functional team work, the internal culture in the organization, firmly established product strategies, product development processes and requirement management and validation capability. These factors can be seen as essential conditions for ensuring product quality during development and prerequisites for establishing Design Assurance at Alfa Laval BU HSS. Key building blocks in the Design Assurance capability are identified and described, which include reviews of actions and project documentation that safeguards continuous improvements and prevent future deficiencies. The Design Assurance activities are identified as documentation management, change management, risk assessments, nonconformance management, product quality follow up and lessons learned. / Dagens industritekniska företag verkar i en global miljö med snabba förändringar, vilket har bidragit till ökad konkurrens och accelererat hastigheten för ny teknik. Därmed har även kraven på företagen att bli mer effevtiva och innovativa, utan att kompromissa med produktens kvalitet, ökat. En väl-fungerande produktutveckling är nödvändig för att bibehålla konkurrenskraft och möta kundernas förväntningar. Ju senare produkters kvalitetsproblem upptäcks och rättas till under utvecklings-processen desto dyrare är det och problemen härstammar ofta från produktens konstruktion. För att säkerställa att nyutvecklingsprojekt effektivt kan leverera högkvalitativa produkter utan att påverka kostnadsmål eller time-to-market, kan Design Assurance tillämpas under produktutvecklingen. Avsikten är att upptäcka, identifiera och förebygga brister i konstruktionen som kan orsaka problem senare under utvecklingen, genom att utföra kontroller för att säkerställa att konstruktionen uppfyller standarder, anvisningar och andra krav. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka Design Assurance för att ytterligare etablera konceptet på Alfa Laval BU HSS och beskriva hur produktkvaliteten säkras under produktutvecklingen. Analys av litteraturstudier, intervjuer på Alfa Laval BU HSS samt benchmarking vid tre företag; Atlas Copco Industriteknik, Getinge Maquet Critical Care divisionen och Tetra Pak, utgör grunden för resultatet i denna studie. Resultatet visar att det finns ett antal faktorer som i hög grad påverkar en organisations förmåga att säkerställa produkternas kvalitet i produktutvecklingen. Nyckelfaktorer har i denna studie identifierats som tvärfunktionellt arbete, den interna kulturen på företaget, väl förankrade produkt-strategier, processer inom produktutveckling samt kravhantering och valideringsförmågan under utvecklingen. Dessa faktorer kan ses som nödvändiga förutsättningar för att säkerställa produktkvalitet under produktutveckling och därmed förutsättningar för att framgångsrikt etablera Design Assurance på Alfa Laval BU HSS. Slutligen är de centrala delarna för att genomföra och applicera Design Assurance identifierade och beskrivna, vilka innefattar granskning av handlingar och projektdokument som säkerställer ständiga förbättringar och förebygger framtida brister. Design Assurance-aktiviteter är identifierade som kontroll av korrekt dokumentering, hantering av ändringar, avvikelsehantering, riskbedömningar, uppföljning av produktkvalitet och lärdomar under produktutvecklingsprojektet.

Den tidiga fasen av företags innovationsprocess har fått stor uppmärksamhet i modern akademisk forskning. Det diskuteras hur man strukturerar denna fas kallad “fuzzy front end” kopplat till innovation och även ett koncept som allmänt kallas “öppen innovation” har introducerats - involvering av tredje parts individer i utvecklingsprocessen. Detta examensarbete fokuserar huvudsakligen på öppen innovation genom olika event för att främja innovationsarbete såsom: workshops, hackathons, idea jams och andra typer av sammanhang som inkluderar både externa deltagare och experter samt anställda och partners inom organisationer. Genom att designa, vara värd för, övervaka samt utvärdera ett hackathon för innovation som heter LiveHacks, samlar detta examensarbete relevant information för att förstå motiven för företag såväl som individer att delta i ett sådant sammanhang. Slutligen bedöms i detta examensarbete hur man kan organisera framgångsrika öppen innovations-eventsåsom hackathons. Dessutom har en generaliserad mall som tredje part skall kunna ta efter utvecklats. / The front end of a corporate’s innovation process has caught much attention in contemporary academic research. Efforts discuss how to structure the “fuzzy frontend of innovation” and introduce a concept widely known as “open source” – the involvement of third party individuals to the development process. This Masters thesis specifically focuses on open innovation through the medium of event-based innovation facilitation; e.g through workshops, hackathons, idea jams and other events that include both external users and experts as well as employees or partners within organizations. By designing, hosting, monitoring and evaluating an innovation event called “LiveHacks”, this thesis collects relevant data to understand both, the motives of corporations as well as of individuals to participate in open innovation events. Finally, this thesis assesses how to host successful open innovation events and develops a generalized template for third party adoption.

No description available.

Determinantes y beneficios de las actividades de innovación que trascienden las fronteras organizativas: Estudios empíricos de un panel de empresas españolas Tesis Doctoral Sean Kask Las empresas se relacionan cada vez más con agentes que se encuentran fuera de sus fronteras organizativas con el objetivo de desarrollar innovaciones tanto de productos como de procesos. Los tres estudios empíricos que componen esta tesis exploran los determinantes y beneficios de las actividades de innovación orientadas hacía el exterior. En los tres estudios se estiman diferentes modelos econométricos basados en un panel de empresas españolas. El primer estudio investiga los factores que determinan que las empresas manufactureras elijan entre el desarrollo interno, la colaboración o el desarrollo externo como estrategia para el desarrollo de nuevos productos. A partir de constructos derivados de la teoría de los costes de transacción, la visión basada en recursos y la teoría de la organización industrial, los resultados destacan las diferencias existentes entre la colaboración y la contratación como modos de gobernanza de la innovación. En primer lugar, los resultados muestran que la incertidumbre de mercado tiende a llevar a las empresas a la colaboración pero no al desarrollo externo; mientras que las empresas son más proclives a colaborar bajo condiciones de incertidumbre tecnológica. En segundo lugar, los resultados ponen de manifiesto una relación en forma de U-invertida entre la capacidad de I+D de la empresa y la probabilidad de colaborar (en comparación con el desarrollo interno) y una relación negativa con la adquisición externa, reflejando una tensión entre el 'efecto de la necesidad' de encontrar fuentes externas de innovación cuando la capacidad interna es baja, y el 'efecto de la complementariedad' entre estas capacidades internas y la aptitud para beneficiarse de estas fuentes externas. / Kask ., ST. (2011). DETERMINANTS OF AND RETURNS TO INNOVATION ACTIVITIES WHICH SPAN ORGANIZATIONAL BOUNDARIES: EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON A PANEL OF SPANISH FIRMS [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/14574

打造一個好的產品是所有早期新創公司的核心，然而如何將產品從構想到販售並取顧客喜愛，則是一個需要理論與實務結合、不斷實驗的過程。在本論文中，作者將過去三年實際帶領產品-Voltset從出生到成長的經驗紀錄下來並與理論相呼應，探討一個新產品如何透過不斷循環的迭代過程 (iteration process)增加其新產品完整度 (product readiness) 。這三年當中，作者歸納了 Voltset從初期抽象構想的形成，獲得第一位付費的客戶，到後期在全球最大的群眾募資平台上進行全球市場驗證的過程。本論文主要會針對兩大部分做深度討論: 第一部分著重於探討如何在各種實際市場驗證測試中增加產品就緒度，並點出在目前現有理論框架，如: 精實創業 (the Lean startup) 下可能與實際執行面不同之處。根據本產品的經驗，新產品第一次的迭代過程循環應該經由以下幾個步驟：產品目標市場願景、產品本身定義、最小可行性產品構築、意見領袖背書、市場驗證、市場測試與學習。第二部分則是討論當在定義一個新產品的功能與特徵時，如何正確地選擇性聽取以及以什麼方式來聽取目標客戶的需求。根據打造 Voltset產品的經驗，作者發現當潛在客戶聲音太廣泛時，應只聽取”已付費”客戶的意見，因為該族群的產生是藉由深入了解產品價值，並經歷認同與付費過程而形成，因此會在產品的功能與特徵上的需求較聚焦。 本論文藉由親身實務經驗與理論的對話提供深度的產品迭代過程探討，作者期許這樣的研究能對於縮小理論與實務的鴻溝做出貢獻。 / Product building is a core activity for any early-stage startup. However, there are still many gaps between literature to real world practice for successfully developing a product that is accepted by the market. In this thesis, the building experience of Voltset -- a one of the kind hardware and software integrated multimeter, is studied for its journey of product iteration process to increase product readiness. The cofounder of the startup as well as the author of this thesis, has reflected his firsthand experience with literature such as the Commercializing New Technologies and the Lean Startup to seek steps necessary to move the project from shaping an abstract concept, acquiring the first paying customer, and then campaigning a successful crowd funding project. The thesis focuses on answering two questions: First, what are the steps required to enhance product readiness through validation testing from the first business idea to receiving its first group of paying customers. Based on the experience of Voltset and the Lean startup framework, it suggests the first product iteration process should loop through the following stages: Product market vision, product definition, minimum viable product building, key opinion leader endorsement, validation sell, measure, and learn. Second, when a product specification needs to be pinpointed, who and how to listen to the voice of targeted customers (VOC) is the state-of-art question for early-stage startups. Within the scope of this experience, it indicates to focus only on paying customers since they understand the potential value of the new product and have similar needs compare to the wide range of feature request from the rest of potential buyers. This thesis provides the insights of product iteration from first-hand experience, enriching the knowledge gap between real product building and theoretic framework point of view.

科學技術進步下，產品生命週期不斷縮短，不少企業藉縮短新產品規劃階段以及簡化的前置作業，回應必須快速推出新產品的壓力，但學者研究調查中持續發現，輕忽新產品設計與開發最起始階段是導致新產品失敗的主要原因，因此本研究將研究重點放在新產品開發流程之前段新產品策略與規劃工作上。 本研究將新產品開發流程一切為二，「前段」涵蓋全面發展階段之前的產品構想、初步調查、細部調查等新產品開發階段，「後段」則包括全面發展階段在內的產品測試與確定、全面生產與上市等新產品開發階段，而Cooper(2000)在前段與後段之間設立一個重要的檢核關卡，前段須產出明確的「新產品定義」相當於科技產品之規格，以及「新產品定位」也就是新產品對消費者之訴求重點後才能進入後段流程，因此本研究期望使此重要關卡所需的最後「新產品定義與定位」產出，能是一個周延考慮各面向因素的最佳結果，因此本研究提出之解決方法是納入前段所有需考慮的新產品策略因素以及可行性因素，加以整理並建立「新產品定義與定位評估架構」，提供企業在決定「新產品定義與定位」時能夠透過客觀檢核架構，進行新產品推入市場後成功率的評估，甚至能將之運用在各新產品方案之間的選擇，例如：越符合架構各面向因素的新產品方案，代表較高的產品成功率。 本研究選擇決策中心在台灣的「台灣自有品牌企業」，鎖定產品生命週期短且汰換率高之特性的「手機產品」，並以對企業與市場而言皆為新產品的「智慧型手機」為研究對象；本研究研究目的為希望了解台灣自有品牌手機公司實際進行新產品開發流程的情形，並找出妥善評估「新產品定義與定位」的衡量架構與指標，並進行整體與跨公司之各因素指標權重比較，期望結果可提供台灣自有品牌手機業者一個可遵循的「新產品定義與定位評估架構」以及可了解企業本身對新產品注重之重點的具體新產品管理方法；本研究方法為整合專家訪談、學者文獻和產業研究報告，建立「新產品定義與定位評估架構」，並使用層級分析法(AHP)將架構因素設計成問卷，請五家公司各一位有權決定新產品全面發展與否的高層主管，依據過去新產品專案管理經驗透過因素之兩兩比較，得到各層級之各因素在企業做新產品評估時的權重。 研究結果發現台灣自有品牌手機公司在第一層級指標中首重「新產品市場潛力與需求確認」與「新產品策略發展競爭分析」，並對「新產品技術開發與設計可行性」最不重視；策略夥伴(通路商/電信商)商品趨勢預測、新產品推出市場後的獨特性與優越性、機構與ID(工業)設計能力、新手機專案如期完成，都是第二層最被重視的指標；現有產品線之影響、目標市場銷售成長潛力、功能需求等則為第三層企業評估重點。 本研究相信新產品之表現好壞不僅是上市之行銷企劃結果，更來自於最起始新產品初生時企業所做的規劃階段與前置工作品質，透過「新產品定義與定位評估架構」將專家在做決策時的內隱經驗與知識作架構化，更透過層級分析法(AHP)的量化分析找出各指標權重，以客觀周延架構與具體權重改善決策者過去依主觀經驗決策情形，並提供企業一套有效產出「新產品定義與定位」的思考過程，更可進一步作為最佳成功率方案選擇的新產品管理方法。 / With rapid leaps in technology, product life cycle has been shortened in the past several years. Responding to this change some firms tried to simplify the preceding operation in the planning stage of the new product development process in order to speed up the lead time for launching new product. However some academic researches point out that the fewer firms do in the beginning stage of new product development process, the higher failure risk firms will take finally. For considering the importance of the start stage of new product development process, this thesis focuses on how to plan a new product properly and effectively. This thesis divides the new product development process into two parts. One is the former phase including “discovery stage”, ”scoping stage”, and “build business case stage”. The other is the later phase covering “development stage ”,”testing and validation stage”, and “launch stage ”.The Scholar, Robert G. Cooper(2000) created a method to manage the whole process called “stage－gate”. He mentioned “gate three” played a meaningful role between former and later phase because firms have to make commitment to the new product and put in real resources after former phase. In other words, “gate three” plays a role as a serious gatekeeper to make sure a well-defined and clearly-positioned new product. The definition and position of the new product is the output of former phase and means “gate three”. To have a sound definition and position of the new product, this thesis suggests a framework involved in all factors that are under consideration in former phase. Firms could adopt the framework when they have to create or evaluate a new product. This thesis also suggests that following the framework to evaluate a new product could be more objective and easily-obeyed, and most importantly lower the failure risk of the new product. This thesis takes “Taiwanese own brand company” as the object of study is because it is more feasible to contact with the core of the people who are the decision maker of a new product. Mobile phones are suitable to be the product of the study on account of facing the intense pressure from product life cycle shortened and high changing usage rate. Moreover this thesis chooses a fresh and novel product for consumers and firms, “smart phone”, as the target product. The purpose of this thesis is to know more how “new product development process” being implemented in Taiwanese own brand company, collect the factors considered in the process, and organize all the factors in a hierarchy framework. This framework works as a guidebook to evaluate new product definition and positioning. The method used in this thesis can provide more information such as quantification of importance percentage of some indexes. This study recommends that firms revise and adjust the percentages by comparing each other within five companies separately. To set up “ the new product definition and positioning evaluative framework ”, this research integrates the expert opinions of interviews with professors, academic researches, and industrial research reports. The concept of questionnaire is based on “Analytical Hierarchy Process, AHP” and designed for continually comparing the importance of different two factors for calculating the importance percentage. The people answering questionnaire are the senior managers who are responsible for making final decision and decide a new product is qualified for “gate three” and enter “development stage”. This thesis believes a successful performance of a new product launch is partly based on the marketing communication plan but mainly comes from an entire consideration of new product plan in the beginning of the process. By way of evaluating the definition and positioning of new product with hierarchy framework, helps decision maker to remove subjective opinion and conclude the decision more objectively. The most important contributions of this study are not only transferring latent thinking process to a easily-followed framework and output meaningful quantification importance percentage, but also the percentage can further be used to calculate points for choosing the best-fit new product on the selecting list. The thesis hopes the process of this research method to be a good new product management method and improve the success of new product development effectively.