Bakgrund: En stor del av Sveriges företag är idag små företag och allt fler kunder efterfrågar hållbara innovationer. Dock saknas det forskning gällande just småföretag och hållbarhet inom ny produktutveckling (NPD). Därmed fokuserar denna studie på hur små företag kan utveckla hållbara innovationer och vilka framgångsfaktorer och hinder som de finns genom NPD-processen. Syfte: Syftet är att identifiera framgångsfaktorer och hinder för att små företag ska lyckas utveckla en hållbar innovation. Avgränsning: Begreppet "innovation" avser produktinnovationer på den befintliga marknaden. Termen "hållbarhet" är avgränsad till miljömässig hållbarhet. Den hållbara innovationen betraktas vidare genom NPD. Studien är avgränsad till små företag. Metod: Studien utgår från två olika perspektiv, ett kund- och ett företagsperspektiv. Kundperspektivet undersöks genom en kvantitativ enkätmetodik och företagsperspektivet undersöks genom en kvalitativ intervjumetodik. Studien är vidare baserad på en explorativ fallstudie som genomförts genom ett abduktivt angreppssätt. Resultat och Slutsats: Studiens resultat och slutsats visar att framgångsfaktorerna när små företag utvecklar hållbara innovationer är kundinvolvering, hållbara produktattribut, transparent arbete och organisatorisk struktur och integration. De hinder som studien påvisat är finansiering, produkttester, marknadsfaktorer samt organisatorisk samordning. Bidrag: Hållbara produktattribut i utvecklingen av nya innovationer i små företag bör användas som en framgångsfaktor och kommuniceras. Hinder i produkttestning när små företag utvecklar hållbara innovationer lyfts fram i studien, som inte finns i någon större utsträckning i litteraturen. Studien har bidragit till en checklista med ledande framgångsfaktorer och hinder. Dessa kan små företag ta hänsyn till vid utveckling av hållbara innovationer. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Det skulle vara intressant att se fler studier som undersöker NPD-processen inom små företag. Vidare uppmuntras det till att studera hållbarhetsaspekter gällande innovationer samt NPD-processer djupare.

ABB is a global leader in Power and Automation Technologies. This Theses Work has been carried out at ABB FACTS R&D Department in Västerås. ABB FACTS intend to develop new Product Platforms that is partly accomplished with new methods and processes. This Master Thesis concerns the development of a generic Review and Approval Process for these R&D Projects. The development of the generic Review and Approval process is mostly founded on several interviews of employees at ABB FACTS. The respondents are employees from several departments with different amount of experiences and background. In addition to the interviews a Literature Study focused on Roles and Responsibilities, Document Management and R&D Processes was performed. Information in connection to the problem statements concerning Responsibility- and Project Roles in R&D projects and Review and Approval Execution was collected and analyzed during the project. Information regarding how to demonstrate Roles and Responsibilities in relation to the project participants was also considered. The result of this project consists of a Responsibility Chart where all R&D Project related Document Types are listed in relation to the defined Project Roles. This Responsibility Chart also display what responsibility every Project Role has regarding review and approval related to the Document Types. Besides the Responsibility Chart also other objects were developed, such as a Review Record, a Process Description and a User Guide. The above mentioned results are developed in close cooperation with several R&D Project Managers. Furthermore the expectations are that the developed result will be taken in usage and thereby continuously be revised and improved in order to suit the organization to maximum extent.

國外大廠下單、台灣公司ODM設計製造這樣的模式在近十幾年在不同的消費性電子產包含手機、電視機上盒及筆記型電腦等等為台灣創造了驚人的產值。過去比較常見的方式是由國外大廠定規格，而由台灣公司設計產品，但因為上市時機 ( Time to Market ) 的壓力，國外大廠愈來愈願意分享客戶及技術上的資訊與台灣公司建立伙伴關係，利用協同設計的方式來加速產品的設計開發。 本研究即透過個案研究的方式去了解國外的手機品牌大廠如何與台灣ODM公司協同開發新產品及如何去進行跨公司的專案管理。本研究發現包含： 一、在協同設計方面 1. 技術開發的不確定性會影響協同設計合作模式選擇及國外大廠所投入的資源多寡，當技術開發的不確定性愈高，則雙方協同設計合作會愈加密切；若技術不確定性低，則國外大廠在協同合作上所需投入的資源會較少。 2. 在進行協同合作前，企業會有完整的前置動作進行伙伴評估及選擇。 二、在新產品開發流程及管理上 1. 架構性的開發流程有助於協同開發伙伴雙方彼此了解開發現況及完成協同開發工作。 2. 企業內部雖講求以市場需求為導向的專案開發，但其新產品開發流程設計上，消費者對產品的回饋常未能在設計早期被納入評估。 3. 完整的新產品開發流程會考量保持適度的彈性而不致於僵化。 4. DFSS流程與既有流程的整合有利於DFSS的推行。 三、在上下游溝通模式及媒介上 5. 在協同開發模式下，上下游溝通模式的選擇同時考慮內部技術的保護與外部資訊分享。 6. 有效的資訊及溝通科技是達成成功協同開發的重要因素。 / Due to the decrease of market price of cell phones and reduction of product life cycle, more and more branded cell phone companies seek ODM vendors to develop new products. In order to speed up the develop time of new product and leverage experiences from branded companies to ODM vendors, product development collaboration present a common way in this industry. However, product development collaboration cross companies bring more challenges over in-house design. The object of this research is to introduce how a global branded company to collaborate with ODM companies. The paper cites the different kinds of collaboration and new product development (NPD) process cross companies from case study. In order to integrate ODM companies into NPD, the global branded company should overcome the barriers as the unmatched NPD process of counterparts and the limitation of communication due to the far locations of companies. The following aspects were analysed to understand the collaboration: the NPD process under collaboration condition, the project management over companies, and the communication medium used for inside and outside communication. The result of the study shows global branded companies effectively use internal resources by implementing flexible NPD process for different kind of collaborations Various information and communication technology (ICT) can reduce the barriers of communication cross companies.

Companies today are aggressively finding ways to improve top-line growth by introducing innovative products faster to the market. To achieve both innovation and accelerated rollout, many are turning to techniques such as Stage Gate approaches to improve engineering and marketing collaborations to clarify short term resource allocations (day to day plan with employee assignment). While Stage Gate approaches have been shown to result in better project coordination and faster time to market by doing projects right, research also indicates the need to ensure alignment to company strategy by doing the right projects within the allocated annual budget through medium term (rough cut capacity plan with employee requirements) and long term resource allocations (business / strategic plan with funding requirements). Today, such medium to long term resource allocation methodologies tend to be broadly consolidated under Research and Development (R&D) product portfolio management. We argue that there is value in a philosophical change in viewing R&D product portfolio management from the context of (1.) long and medium term resource allocation phases separately, (2.) focusing on the overlapping regions between long and medium term and between medium and short term resource allocation phases and (3.) the evolving resource allocation perspective (monetary to headcount to skillset) through these phases. Cooper et al note that for R&D product portfolio management and the Stage Gate process to work together, one can expect one of two scenarios - a gates dominated approach (where the prioritization and resource decisions are made at short term focused Stage Gates) or a portfolio reviews dominated approach (where the prioritization and resource decisions are made at the long term focused portfolio reviews). We propose that with appropriate focus given to the medium term phase, a third approach that we call a Hybrid Gates approach can exist in a "gates dominated" environment. A case study on Freescale Semiconductor was used as an empirical inquiry to gain deeper understanding on the perceived value of this approach within a real-life context. Triangulating between structured surveys, unstructured surveys, and focused interviews; we were able to show perceived value to the organization in the following areas: (1.) Enhancing the understanding of decision maker's decision and solution spaces, (2.) Clarifying strategic expressions and "stress testing" new strategies, (3.) Improving horizontal and vertical communication within the organization and (4.) Aiding in objectivity in R&D investment allocation. Furthermore, we were able to conceptually show how this approach retains the advantages of the gates dominated and portfolio dominated approaches while minimizing their respective weaknesses. This research is novel and unique as we have not found any research literature that focuses on a Hybrid Gates approach perspective or studies where the implementation of MO-ZOLP is: (1.) this large in scale and (2.) designed specifically to support a Stage Gate dominated environment. We believe that this research contributes to the practising educator and researcher by providing them with an alternative approach on R&D project portfolio management in complex organizations that are using a Stage Gate process. We also believe that this research is valuable to the practitioner by providing them with a practical process and methodology in which change management for such activities can be achieved. In addition, we assessed the on-going value added to the organization, thus linking theory to practice and finally, to outcome.

Background:  The increment of global population flows has challenged businesses to harness the potential of a culturally diverse environment. Nonetheless, previous studies on the effect of cultural diversity on teams has been equivocal, specifically when it is related to a firm’s innovation process. Mostly, these said studies have been focusing on cultural diversity as an input and innovation performance as an output. This means, understanding the mechanisms under which cultural diversity affects team performance has yet to be established. There is however a consensus among scholars that cultural diversity can act as a “double-edged sword” as it can be a source of friction and conflict, but also synergy and learning.  Purpose:  The purpose of this study is to explore multicultural team dynamics involved in the new product development process and determine if and how cultural diversity affects the innovation process, particularly, in a global knowledge-intensive firm. Our study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how cultural differences drive specific team processes, and thereby, offer both practitioners and scholars important insights.  Method:  We made use of a qualitative research approach with an exploratory design and a single holistic case study of a Swedish-based global, knowledge-intensive company. By conducting semi-structured interviews with members of multicultural NPD teams and one HR representative, we gained an understanding of different views and experiences that shape the team dynamics, which ultimately influences the innovation process.  Conclusion:  The results of this study suggest that cultural diversity does not directly impact the innovation process, but rather the effect is influenced by certain contextual factors and materializes through specific team outcomes. These outcomes could positively or negatively impact the innovation process.

The concept of open innovation has received increased attention among practitioners as well as in academia in recent years. It provides a conceptual platform for understanding how external sources of knowledge drive internal growth. In addition, it also addresses the internal configurations needed for managing a more externally oriented innovation process. However, many firms still experience major managerial challenges in trying to adopt the principles of open innovation. The perhaps most important challenge in realizing the potential benefits of open innovation lies in modifying existing innovation activities and processes to incorporate the principles of open innovation, rather than creating something completely new. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to study the problems and opportunities arising when firms attempt to integrate open innovation activities within their development processes. Empirically, the results are based on three exploratory case studies within the process industries. In total, this thesis is based on 73 interviews from 2 process firms and 9 equipment suppliers to the process industries. Data was gathered in several different countries, and collectively these firms represent perspectives from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands and The United Kingdom.Three papers are appended with the thesis. Paper I studies the overall challenges of integrating open innovation activities within an existing product development process. The key contribution is the enactment of a practitioner-oriented work model, named the open Stage-Gate model, which exploits the advantages of "openness" while simultaneously capturing the benefits deriving from the systematic and structured approach implied by the Stage-Gate process. Paper II studies a concrete application of open innovation by focusing on the development and installation of new or upgraded process equipment in process plants where collaborative efforts by a process firm and various suppliers of process equipment often are required. The analysis focuses on problems and opportunities in different stages of the equipments lifecycle and finds that the content and the intensity of the collaboration should be tailored to the different stages of the equipment's lifecycle. As such, the conclusions highlight the fact that being totally open in development activities is not always the most suitable option. Instead, different degrees of "openness" may be suitable at different stages. Paper III studies collaboration in the later operational stages of a process equipments lifecycle, from an equipment supplier perspective. The results presented in this paper underscore the importance of collaboration in the operational stages as these stages are critical to facilitate technology transfer and production performance.

Manufacturing firms are realising the customer value and competitive edge that can be captured through digitalisation. Manufacturing firms are therefore striving to integrate digital technologies on the existing product range to create an ecosystem of connected products to create, monitor and manage the aftermarket product services. The integration introduces multiple conflicting innovation regimes into the organisation namely product innovation and digital innovation regime. This changes the way traditional manufacturing companies work with dynamics business models and dynamic market conditions requiring a new approach to maintaining customer relationships, rethinking the organizational structure and product developmental processes. The current study focuses on the product development challenges to which the manufacturing companies are exposed while developing connected products. Physical development processes are characterised by physical materiality, long lead times, upfront planning, early binding following a linear development framework while digital innovation is characterised by digital materiality, shorter lead time, multiple launches, late bindings which follows an iterative agile model of development. The contrasting characteristics create challenges for executing physical-digital product development projects. A Swedish manufacturing company is considered as a case study company and 19 process challenges are identified and reported in the current study through interviews with 26 stakeholders from diverse functions along with secondary data observations from project interaction meetings. These challenges are prioritised and group into five overarching challenges which are lack of integrated development process, coordination issues, integration issues, knowledge gap and resources issues. Three external companies are interviewed to compare challenges in the physical-digital product development process and identify process and practices adopted by the companies to mitigate those challenges. Based on the insights from the literature study, interviews from the case company and external companies, six recommendations were proposed. The recommendations include defining clear roles and responsibilities, creating a TRL chart for connectivity, strengthen front-loading activities, developing connectivity integrated NPD process, creating a flexible framework for functions to coordinate and develop connectivity integrated testing process. / Allt fler tillverkningsföretag inser det ökade kundvärdet och konkurrenskraften som digitalisering kan medföra. Tillverkningsföretag strävar därför efter att integrera digital teknik i det befintliga produktsortimentet för att skapa ett ekosystem av digitalt uppkopplade produkter för att utforma, övervaka och hantera produkter och tjänster på marknaden. Integrationen kan skapa konflikter mellan företagets innovationsregimer i organisationen, såsom produktinnovation och digital innovationsregim. För att kunna upprätthålla kundrelationer samt omstrukturera organisationen och produktutvecklings-processerna krävs en ny strategi, eftersom integrationen förändrar hur traditionella tillverkningsföretag arbetar med dynamiska affärsmodeller och dynamiska marknadsförhållanden. Denna studie fokuserar på de utmaningar i produktutveckling somn tillverkningsföretag möter i utvecklandet av uppkopplade produkter. Utvecklingsprocesser för fysiska produkter kännetecknas av långa ledtider, planering i förväg samt tidiga beslut utifrån ett linjärt utvecklingsramverk, medans digital innovation kännetecknas av kortare ledtider, flera lanseringar, och senare beslut som följer en iterativ, agil utvecklingsmodell. Skillnaderna i utvecklingen av digitala och fysiska produkter skapar utmaningar för att genomföra fysisktdigitala produkttvecklingsprojekt. En fallstudie utfördes på ett svenskt tillverkningsföretag där 19, olika processutmaningar identifieras och rapporteras i denna studie. Studien baseras på intervjuer med 26 intressenter från olika avdelningar, samt sekundära dataobservationer från projekmöten. Utmaningarna prioriteras och grupperas i fem övergripande problemområden; utmaningar avseende samordning, integration, kunskap, respektive resurser, samt avsaknad av en integrerad utvecklingsprocess. Tre externa företag intervjuas för att jämföra utmaningar i den fysiskt-digitala produktutvecklingsprocessen samt för att identifiera processer och metoder som företagen har använt för att hantera dessa utmaningar. Baserat på litteraturstudien, intervjuer från företaget och de externa företagen föreslås sex rekommendationer. Dessa inkluderar att definiera tydliga roller och ansvarsområden, skapa ett TRL-diagram för anslutningar, stärka front-loading-aktiviteter, utveckla en integrerad produktuvtvecklings process för uppkopplade produkter samt skapa ett flexibelt ramverk för funktioner för att samordna och utveckla en integrerad testprocess för uppkopplade produkter.

The thesis work aimed at developing a framework for portfolio management and business case development that can be used as decision support for a company for new product development. The assignment was to study relevant literature resulting in an aggregated view on this topic and the parameters that impact successful product development. The literature involves project initiation, different levels of product innovation development and information about important research criteria to include when forming new product projects ideas. This information helps to support how to objectively evaluate and compare product projects. The literature also involves different relevant tools to use for providing information and manage product portfolio management along with their benefits. Out of this aggregated view, a template and suggested decision model specific for the company has been established. The resulting template has for purpose to be used for preparation of providing a solid information base when a new product project idea is to be presented. The decision base has the purpose to help the members and managers in the product council to form a decision on what product idea to proceed with, which hopefully will result into launch and success. The framework aims to assess individual product development initiatives as well as managing the product portfolio aspect. Except the study of a considerable amount of literature, qualitative research has been made as well. The qualitative research has been performed in the form of semi-structured interviews together with people within the company that has been used as case study in this report. The interviews contributes with information about the current state of the company’s product offering process together with attention paid for what is missing and what improvements that is sought. In such way, the qualitative research contribute to the result of the framework in the sense that it is attributed towards the company in the case study and thus slightly towards technological network industries, although the framework is made for a generic use. As by this thesis, the framework focus on one company, but it has for purpose to be adaptable and inspiring for any company with respect for the individual company’s restrictions.

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.