The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development

4.2. A Closer View of Implementation Issues

Organizations are unique in culture, strategy, skills, competition, technologies, and structure. Therefore, the details of a full framework will differ from organization to organization. It is from these details that unique challenges arise. A look at some of the nuances of an NPD framework, shown in Figure 4.1, helps clarify some of the many issues.

Figure 4-1. FULL NPD FRAMEWORK.

Throughout the framework, managers must judge and choose. Based on this judging and choosing, concepts will be terminated, recycled, or advanced. Many of the decisions will be influenced by each concept's fit with business and product strategy. Note the implication: managers need a common understanding of product strategies. Top management, therefore, must commit to and clearly explain the strategies. Poor articulation of strategy can be harmful to gaining consistent use of the framework. A director of technology at a multinational chemical company described the effects of poor articulation of product strategy. He shared that in his business unit "as soon as a big customer says that they want us to do a new product for them, all resources get shifted to that project." Unless the objective is to satisfy that customer at all costs, both strategy and process are being sidestepped. Adherence to strategy enables a good decision flow on which NPD workflows can ...