Abstract
Executive summary 1. Quality, as a strategic instrument in overall management of companies, is one of the decisive elements in the competitiveness of companies, and methodologies in the area of TQM are seen as leading means in helping business solve current problems, but even more important in anticipating future changes and need for new products. A key factor in quality is customer information and ability to use such information. 2. Defining and doing quantitative survey of success in product development is a difficult task. It is generally agreed that the measurement of success in product development should include factors such as: market share, sales objectives, profit objectives, technical aspects, impact on the company and company reputation and timing of the product development process. The main aim of the survey is to analyse the relationship between success in product development and the ability to collect, process and translate customer information into the product deve processes. 3. As a preliminary step the population was defined as Danish food processing companies with 20 or more employees (N=300). Next, qualitative surveys in eight companies were carried out in order to find the central issues and questions to be investigated in a quantitative survey. 121 Danish food processing companies were contacted, and 55 companies agreed to participate. The person responsible for the product or the marketing manager in the individual company filled in a questionnaire a meeting at the company. This procedure was used to ensure a high validity of the answers given to the questions in the questionnaire. 4. The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate mathematically, graphically and empirically how success rates of new products and launching rates of prototypes may depend on learning. Learning is assumed to have a positive impact on the quality of prototypes being developed by the individual company, and the mathematical derivations in this paper show that there reason to believe that there is a linear relationship between the launching rate and the success rate. 5. The empirical results concerning applied success criteria of new products in Danish food processing companies show that increase in market share and increase in earning capability are the most dominant criteria, and criteria such as reputation and technological advantages have a much lower priority, but in general the companies use several success criteria for new products. A preliminary analy the relationship between success rate of new products and launching rates shows a significant linear dependency. 6. More detailed analyses of the success rate of new products are based on a regression model. In this model, the launching rate together with several other third variables, considered to be important in analysing the success rates, are used as explanatory variables. The final model shows a significant linear dependency between the success rate and the launching rate. The model also that eight other variables explain the success rate of a new product. The eight other significant variables (third variables) are: company perception of the concept: a new product, use of trade fairs in launching new products, production methods sensitive to variation in the quality of raw materials, top-management participation in the product development stage, use of customer complaints, use of qualitative market research, constant exchange of sales information from customers in order t assess future demand, and finally the usage of buying frequency analyses in order to assess the likelihood of success of a new product.
| Translated title of the contribution | The success and failure of product development in the Danish food sector |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Publication status | Published - 1997 |
Keywords
- HHÅ forskning
- MAPP