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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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. 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.

Innovation and new product development (NPD) are critical to firm success and are often cited as means to a sustained competitive advantage. Unfortunately, the question of which innovation programs to pursue and how they should be funded is not trivial. This thesis examines the resource allocation and NPD portfolio problem. Special emphasis is placed on the organizational and behavioral factors that influence this problem. In doing so, we adopt a hierarchical perspective and posit that the resource allocation and NPD portfolio problem acquires a unique structure depending on the level at which the problem is considered. Beginning at the firm level, each study attempts to break open a black box to understand the drivers of effective resource allocation and NPD portfolio decisions at successively more detailed levels of analysis. We begin with an analysis of the firm's total R&D investment and we show how R&D intensity (the percentage of revenue that is reinvested in R&D) depends on a combination of NPD portfolio metrics and operational variables. We then extend the analysis to reveal how a simple evolutionary process explains the often cited consistency in R&D intensity at the industry level. Next, we analyze how the R&D investment is partitioned into "strategic buckets" consisting of NPD programs that are characterized by type of innovative activity (incremental or radical). We show how time commitment, technological/market complexity, and potential disruptions to the technology/market environment influence the balance between incremental and radical programs in the NPD portfolio. Finally, we analyze how individual NPD programs are funded and how they evolve over time in an organization setting that is defined by more or less autonomy. We find that how best to allocate resources depends on two types of autonomy bestowed upon managers: autonomy with respect to NPD funding and autonomy regarding how the NPD budget is monitored and controlled. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of our work.

Abstract This study is to investigate the status quo and relationship between R&D-Marketing integration in the product innovation process and organizational performance. Based on the company registered in 2003, a target population composed of 259 Switching Power Supply(SPS¡^companies is formed. Questionnaires were completed by managers responsible for marketing or R&D-Marketing departments. E-mail survey were employed to collect the data and use correlation analysis, one-way ANOVA and hierarchical regression analysis to analysis the data. It is found that the organizational factors variations exist in the integration of department and have positive influence on various activities when perpetual department was established and the manager is responsible for both marketing and R&D-Marketing department. Moreover, the result of research shows organizational factors have positive influence on department integration, and the mutual participation of members is most important. Besides, organizational factors will affect financial performance and program accomplish by integration of R&D-Marketing respectively of organizational category and chief factor. Based on the research findings, the perpetual department for developing new product and co-operated managers are suggested. In addition, mutual participation of members and establishing information network and database to reduce the gap of information between two departments deserve more attention so that the new product¡¦s performance could be improved. Keywords : switching power supply , new product development, department integration, organizational performance

As the consumption trend has shifted to personal uniqueness, the traditional mass production of a single product has already been replaced by a small amount of various production to match consumption pattern. To meet challenge imposed by the market, manufacturers must change tactics and methods in their R&D activities. Consumers have already taken the high-quality products or services for granted, hoping to obtain the desired products or services that as soon as possible. The manufacturer expects to push new products or services to the market earlier than the competitors¡¦ move in order to gain extra profit margins. Higher price can be sold for a product pushed earlier to the market than a later product with the similar function. The products that lag behind in the market introduction will suffer lower prices or no profit. The manufacturer always wants to clear out the stock of existing products to control costs, and attempts to introduce new products or new services with more new functions before followers do. The purpose is to dominate the market and let followers not to enjoy profit margins. So, how to speed up the products¡¦ lifecycle should be the goal for enterprises to pursue. Recently, each enterprise emphasizes the core competencies, keep and strengthen the strong abilities of enterprises, and conducts outsourcing the less competitive products to those companies that are familiar with related manufacturing technologies. In the process a new product is developed or the modification for the product design has taken place. Questions arise as to : (1) how to transmit information to the person who must know as soon as possible? (2) how to guarantee the product information that the research personnel receive is the correct edition? Collaborative Product Commerce between the organizations will encounter more difficulties and challenges than the Collaborative Product Commerce within the organization. And this subject has already become serious challenges in the supply chain. The products function has grown more complicated, and a lot of unconfirmed factors exist in the development of new products. While the project developed carries on, customers¡¦ requirement, manufacturing technology and restriction of engineering ability, and the restriction of the supplier's engineering ability, may all influence the new product engineering. So while the new product development project carries on, because of these changes they will cause design modification or manufacturing operation modification, in order to enable development of the products to maintain integrally, and reach the goal of the project. So how to use PLM system to coordinate with among different functional organization department, and to coordinate inter-organization project team members, have become the main issues of this thesis. For Semiconductor Industry, Taiwan is the most important manufacture area of the world, from IC design, wafer fabrication, wafer probing, IC packing and final test, etc. Taiwan has a entire and strong supply chains. Count according to Dataquest, the global semiconductor assembly and testing industry subcontractor, Taiwan got the 43.7% market share in 2005, nearly have about 30% of leading disparity with No. two U.S.A. with scale of 6,641 million dollars, it is obvious Taiwan is the leading status of the industry in the whole world. This research takes case A Company as an example, and compares the new product development procedure before PLM implementation and after, including the project workflow, data access, information sharing, knowledge sharing, decision making and information security, in order to offer a reference model for the manufacturing industry especially semiconductor assembly and testing industry of Taiwan to implement PLM System.

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<p>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.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how packaging of convenience goods is an integrated part of the international new product development process.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p>

We live in a time of globalization. People and events of one country often impact other countries. The term “globalization” became one of the main characteristics of today‟s world. Countries perceive themselves not only as separate nations but also as parts of the global world. On other hand, new product development field is a complex process that is vital for companies‟ growth and success. Today, in terms of globalization, success of the product can be judged by its performance on the global market. Reduction of trade barriers and duty, development of new technologies and communication channels and other factors cause a trend towards development of the global market. In such conditions, a challenging task of new product development becomes even more challenging. It transforms into a new process that aims to take advantages of global opportunities and increase efficiency and effectiveness of new products.The new product development theory is quite a researched field. Numerous studies were conducted in the field of global strategies as well. These two concepts, however, were always investigated separately and just little research has been conducted about the joint topic. There are no studies that analyze the new product development process in global companies. Brentani, Kleinschmidt and Salomo (2010) argue though that global company strategy, corporate global culture and global innovation strategy affects the new product development process that is conducted by global companies. Thus we can find a research gap in contemporary literature that studies the global development process in global companies. Thereby the purpose of the current research is to investigate and integrate diverse knowledge about this process and global company strategy. It contributes to the contemporary knowledge about the new product development process by adding global perspective to this concept. Moreover, the current study can provide a framework for companies that can be considered during the process of development of new products for the global market.Our research, therefore, aims to answer the research question: How is the new product development (NPD) process run in global companies: what are the differences with the traditional NPD model and by whom and how is this process managed?By conduction of qualitative interviews and content analysis of gathered data, the new product development process was investigated in three global companies. Further, relevant theories about new product development and global company strategy and gathered data were analyzed together. Based on this comprehensive analysis a new improved model was suggested for the new product development process in global companies. Besides this, managerial issues of this process were investigated as well and some propositions were developed.

The purpose of this study is to provide a glimpse into the New Product Development (NPD) Process as it is being utilised within the context of the residential property development industry in South Africa. The main objective in undertaking this study was to gain an insight into a process that has so far not received much attention from the a,cademic world despite the fact that it is a process that has recently become an important creator of wealth for many South Africans. The case study research design was chosen, because it provides an ideal vehicle for conducting preliminary studies into a specific subject that has not received much attention before. The nature of the case study approach allows for much more in-depth and broader investigation than would be possible in a quantitative study. The specific case under review (SajDev (Pty) Ltd) was chosen, because of the company's involvement in the entire spectrum of the residential property development industry in South Africa. In addition, the company showed an openness and willingness to share its experiences and processes that is not usually found in this particular industry. Most importantly, the company offered the author the opportunity to work for them in order to gain the necessary first hand experience and knowledge that would be needed to do the study. The company also arranged for the author to gain access to all of their professional team members and to all of their internal documents in order to assist with the research. From a technical point of view, the study involved the following basic steps. First, a generic model of NPD was identified and unpacked. Next, the specific process used by SajDev was identified and analysed, after which specific recommendations were made on how the process could be improved. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.