00 artigo usando metodo delphi em npd

J PROD INNOV MANAG 2012;29(2):180192 2012 Product Development & Management Association DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5885.2011.00888.x

An Examination of New Product Development Best Practice*Kenneth B. Kahn, Gloria Barczak, John Nicholas, Ann Ledwith, and Helen Perks

Efforts continue to identify new product development (NPD) best practices. Examples of recognized studies include those by the Product Development and Management Associations Comparative Performance Assessment Study and the American Productivity Quality Center NPD best practices study. While these studies designate practices that distinguish top-performing companies, it is unclear whether NPD practitioners as a group (not just researchers) are knowledgeable about what represents a NPD best practice. The importance of this is that it offers insight into how NPD practitioners are translating potential NPD knowledge into actual NPD practice. In other words, are practitioners aware of and able to implement NPD best practices designated by noteworthy studies? The answer to this question ascertains a current state of the eld toward understanding NPD best practice and the maturity level of various practices. Answering this question further contributes to our understanding of the diffusion of NPD best practices knowledge by NPD professionals, possibly identifying gaps between prescribed and actual practice. Beginning the empirical examination by conducting a Delphi methodology with 20 leading innovation researchers, the study examined the likely dimensions of NPD and corresponding denitions to validate the NPD practices framework originally proposed by Kahn, Barczak, and Moss. A survey was then conducted with practitioners from the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland to gauge opinions about perceptions of the importance of different NPD dimensions, specic characteristics reected by each of these dimensions, and the level of NPD practice maturity that these characteristics would represent. The study is therefore unique in that it relies on the opinions of NPD practitioners to see what they perceive as best practice versus prior studies where the researcher has identied and prescribed best practices. Results of the present study nd that seven NPD dimensions are recommended, whereas the 2006 Kahn, Barczak, and Moss framework had suggested six dimensions. Among practitioners across the three country contexts, there is consensus on which dimensions are more important, providing evidence that NPD dimensions may be generalizable across Western contexts. Strategy was rated higher than any of the other dimensions followed by research, commercialization, and process. Project climate and metrics were perceived as the lowest in importance. The high weighting on strategy and low weighting on metrics and project climate reinforce previous best practice ndings. Regarding the characteristics of each best practice dimension, practitioners appear able to distinguish what constitutes poor versus best practice, but consensus on distinguishing middle range practices are not as clear. The suggested implications of these ndings are that managers should emphasize strategy when undertaking NPD efforts and consider the t of their projects with this strategy. The results further imply that there are clearly some poor practices that managers should avoid and best practices to which managers should ascribe. For academics, the results strongly suggest a need to do a better job of diffusing NPD knowledge and research on best practices. Particular attention by academics to the issues of metrics, project climate, and company culture appears warranted.

Introduction

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best practice can be dened as that technique, method, process, or activity that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, or activity within that

Address correspondence to: Kenneth B. Kahn, da Vinci Center for Innovation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23059. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 804-828-9944. * This research was supported by a research grant from the Product Development and Management Association.

domain (Camp, 1989). In the case of new product development (NPD), the identication and subsequent adoption of a best practice can help to replicate NPD success, NPD vitality, and NPD process maturity of the bestperforming companies (Dooley, Subra, and Anderson, 2002; Paulk, Curtis, Chrissis, and Weber, 1993). Accordingly, various studies have been undertaken to search for best practices such as the two noteworthy studies of the Product Development and Management Associations (PDMA) Comparative Performance Assessment Study (Adams-Bigelow, 2004; Barczak, Grifn, and Kahn,

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT BEST PRACTICE

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES Kenneth B. Kahn is a Professor of Marketing and Director of the da Vinci Center for Innovation at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. His teaching and research interests address product development, product management, and demand forecasting of current and new products. He has published in a variety of journals, including the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Forecasting, Journal of Business Forecasting, Marketing Management, and R&D Management. He also has authored the books Product Planning Essentials (Sage Publications, 2000; 2nd ed. by M.E. Sharpe, 2011) and New Product Forecasting: An Applied Approach (M.E. Sharpe, 2006), and served as editor of the PDMA Handbook on New Product Development (2nd ed., Wiley & Sons, 2004). Gloria Barczak is Professor and Chair of the Marketing Group at Northeastern University. She received her Ph.D. in marketing and innovation management from Syracuse University. Her current research interests include the use of information technology in NPD and the relationship between emotional intelligence and creativity in teams. Her research has been published in Journal of Product Innovation Management, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, R&D Management, Research and Technology Management, and Industrial Marketing Management, among others. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Creativity and Innovation Management, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. She is the 2010 Robert D. Klein University Lecturer and is ranked as one of the Top 25 innovation management scholars in the world. John Nicholas is a researcher in new product and process development at the Enterprise Research Centre at the University of Limerick in Ireland. He holds a B.Eng. in mechanical and biomedical engineering and an M.Eng. in new product development management from the University of Limerick (UL), Ireland. He is currently completing a Ph.D. at the Enterprise Research Centre at the University of Limerick. His research interests focus on new product development in small to medium enterprises and radical innovation management. Ann Ledwith is the director of educational programmes at the Enterprise Research Centre in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Limerick in Ireland. She holds a B.Eng. and an MBA from the University of Limerick and a Ph.D. in Technology Management from the University of Brighton in the UK. She is the academic director of a distance learning masters program in Technology Management. Her research interests include new product development, technology management and project management in small rms. She has published on these topics in various journals including Journal of Product Innovation Management, Creativity and Innovation Management, International Journal of Product Development, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, and Journal of European Industrial Training. Helen Perks is Professor of Marketing and Product Innovation at Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK. Professor Perk has research interests in product and service innovation. She is on the editorial board of Journal of Product Innovation Management, Industrial Marketing Management, R&D Management, and International Marketing Review and regularly publishes in these and other international journals. She is Chair of the EIASM International Product Development Management conference 2012.

2009) and the American Productivity Quality Center NPD best practices study (Cooper, Edgett, and Kleinschmidt, 2002, 2004a, 2004b). While these studies designate contemporary practices that distinguish top-performing companies, it is unclear whether and to what extent NPD practitioners as a group (not just researchers) are knowledgeable about what constitutes a NPD best practice. Investigating this issue ascertains a current state of the eld about NPD best practices and the maturity level of various practices. Investigating this issue also furthers understanding of how NPD practitioners translate potential NPD knowledge into actual NPD practice, thereby reecting the diffusion of NPD best practices knowledge by NPD practitioners and possibly revealing gaps between prescribed and actual practice. To examine these issues, an empirical study was undertaken through the support of the PDMA with the aim to provide a fuller characterization and cognizance of contemporary NPD practice. The ndings from surveys of NPD academics and practitioners specically explored the underlying dimensions of the NPD domain, the relative importance of these dimensions, and the maturity level of various NPD characteristics in the course of validating the Kahn, Barczak, and Moss (2006) framework for NPD best practice. The sample of practitioners included those from the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland to examine congruence among NPD practitioners between United States and Western Europe on underlying NPD dimensions and the characteristics associated with NPD best practices. In doing so, the present study addresses the generalizability of NPD practices across different global contexts. We begin the present paper by dening NPD practice and NPD best practice. Next, the dimensions for NPD practice are delineated. The three-phase methodology and results are then presented. The paper concludes with managerial and research implications for driving excellence in both practice and theory development within the NPD discipline.

The Meaning of NPD Practice and NPD Best PracticePractice is dened as habitual or customary performance and a certain tradition in doing a job (http://www. dictionary.com/browse/practice). Practice also represents the implementation of a set of ideas to achieve intended consequences, where implementation represents the formulation or execution of a policy (Argyris, 1985). Adapting these denitions, NPD practice is dened as customary

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performance that implements ideas and policies leading to the development and launch of new products and services. Through the study of practice, one can readily guide NPD theory and new research (Goodman, 1985). Dening practice along the lines of policy implementation suggests that improvements in practice are recognizable when new policies are used commonly and supplant contemporary policies (Goodman, 1985). Best practices would be those practices that appear to result in the most favorable outcomes. In the case of NPD practice, best practice would be those NPD practices that promote greater success in developing and launching new products and services. This aligns with Frederick Taylors (1967) seminal work claiming that among the various methods and implements used in each element of each trade, there is always one method and one implement which is quicker and better than any of the rest. As previously dened, a best practice is a technique, method, process, or activity that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, or activity. This normative view emphasizes a one-size-ts-all approach to best practice. Some researchers contend that best practices vary from rm to rm, evolving over time, and with changes in the marketplace (Murray, ODriscoll, and Torres, 2002). Thus, there is no one best way to high performance but rather different routes to the same end goal. Loch (2000) argues that while the Stage-Gate process serves as the NPD backbone, company survival depends on how well that company adapts to specic environments, and so there is no one best practice NPD process. Loch prescribes that companies essentially need to develop a customized NPD project portfolio and a corresponding mixture of processes, which together meet strategic innovation needs across incremental projects, really new product projects, and radical innovation projects (Garcia and Calantone, 2002). Davidson, Clamen, and Karol (1999) reach a similar conclusion by emphasizing the need for process exibility so that the process can be continually adjusted to the organizations needs and desires.

The Kahn, Barczak, and Moss Best Practices FrameworkThe rst step for any company wishing to improve its product development process is to gain an understanding of the practices that inuence NPD success. The work of Kahn et al. (2006) suggests that best practices exist for six dimensions of NPD practice: strategy, portfolio

management, process, market research, people, and metrics and performance. Strategy represents dening and planning a focus for the NPD efforts of a strategic business unit (SBU), division, product line, and/or individual project. Work by Cooper et al. (2002) and Grifn (1997a) reafrms that leading organizations are more likely to guide their NPD activity using a strategy, and almost 65% of product companies report that they do a good job of dening the strategy for their NPD efforts (Cooper et al., 2002). Firms that view product development as a strategic, long-term endeavor look for future market opportunities. These rms also recognize and identify customers real or unarticulated needs in the course of identifying new product strategies (Cooper et al., 2002). Portfolio management represents the screening out of product concepts to identify the preferable product concepts with which to proceed (Adams-Bigelow, 2004). Work by Cooper et al. (2002) indicates that only 21.2% of companies have a well-executed portfolio management system in place and that many companies rate their portfolio management as very weak in terms of the degree to which it is put in place. Those NPD organizations considered more sophisticated have a formal and systematic portfolio management approach, which results in better allocation of human and other resources. Sophisticated organizations also have portfolios containing a balanced mix of radical or breakthrough types of projects and incremental projects (Cooper et al., 2002). Process represents the NPD stages, corresponding activities, and gate criteria for moving products to launch. Cooper et al. (2002) indicate that almost 47% of companies reported having clearly dened criteria to evaluate projects at each gate (Cooper et al., 2002). Results also indicate that over 40% of companies designate a process manager to own the process and ensure its use; 65% report having a process that was adaptable and scalable to different types of projects and situations (Cooper et al., 2002). Similar results from PDMAs 2004 study indicate that 60% of organizations indicated using a Stage-Gate process for NPD, while 21% indicated no formal process at all (Adams-Bigelow, 2004). Among these studies results, best-performing companies are found to use a common, formal process with clearly dened stages and gates that are visible, documented, and used (Cooper et al., 2002; Grifn, 1997a). Market research includes application of activities for sensing, learning about, and understanding customers, competitors, and macro-environmental forces in the marketplace. More sophisticated organizations appear to employ a variety of market research techniques so that



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the customer can be involved throughout the development process (Grifn, 1997b). These include concept testing, product testing (both internal and external), and market testing to determine product denition and customer response (Cooper et al., 2002). Leading organizations provide adequate resources to support the market research function and to gather a variety of market information to learn customers current and unarticulated needs, problems, and benets; customer reaction to the proposed product and price sensitivity; market size and potential; expected sales revenue; and competitive situation (Cooper et al., 2002). People include human resources and team-related initiatives. About 42% of rms indicated that they use champions to lead their NPD efforts (Grifn, 1997b). Cooper et al. (2002) nd that leading organizations rely greatly on cross-functional teams throughout the NPD process and are likely to have a centralized NPD function at the corporate and/or divisional level where NPD specialists work full time on such activities. Metrics and performance evaluation pertain to how NPD performance is measured, tracked, reported, recognized, and rewarded. Cooper et al. (2002) nd that sophisticated organizations have dened go/kill gates and specic gate criteria, with an emphasis on strategic criteria, for example, t with core capabilities, market need, and nancial objectives. These organizations are also more likely to gauge how well the project met specic NPD goals such as market share, customer satisfaction, time to market, sales volume, and customers attitude toward the brand (Cooper et al., 2002).

Research Issues with the FrameworkKahn et al. (2006) readily admit that there are issues underlying the validity of the six dimensions. One issue concerns inclusivity, which refers to whether or not the six dimensions are the only elements to contribute to NPD best practice. Key elements pertaining to the fuzzy front end, life-cycle management, and launch are conspicuously missing (Kahn et al., 2006). Do these topics require a separate dimension or can elements of these be linked to the present six dimensions? Of these, an argument for establishing a life-cycle management dimension (Ausura, Gill, and Haines, 2004) and culture dimension (Cooper et al., 2004a; Cormican and OSullivan, 2004) is particularly strong. Are there other elements that are missing given the denitions of each dimension? Agreement on the breadth of the denitions for the dimensions and the number of dimensions is crucial to establish the validity of the framework.

A second issue is equality, which refers to whether there is equal weighting among the dimensions. Some argue that particular dimensions, such as NPD process and strategy, are more important to NPD success than others (Kleinschmidt, 2006). For example, Cooper and Kleinschmidt (1995) nd that of the nine factors that drive new product program performance, a high-quality new product process is most important followed by a clearly articulated new product strategy. This would suggest that dimensions are unequal in weight. The third issue concerns sophistication or maturity. Kahn et al. (2006) argue that each of the six dimensions can be dened across four levels of maturity, ranging from a low level of maturity (poor practice) to a higher level of maturity (best practice). Moreover, they suggest that companies often reect some but not all best practice characteristics. In fact, the achievement of best practice in some instances may be unattainable because of the amount of effort necessary to achieve best practice, e.g., as a consequence of diminishing returns on the effort necessary to attain best practice. Maturity is a key concept in their framework and is dened as perfected condition, fully developed (http://www.dictionary.com/ browse/maturity). Yet perfection is not necessarily achievable or advisable, especially in turbulent and uncertain contexts that require exibility, creativity, and innovation (Henard and Szymanski, 2001; Loch, 2000). Thus, the conceptualization of mature activities within each dimension representing best practice may be a misnomer. Indeed, some have suggested that a curvilinear relationship between maturity and at least several dimensions may persist, where maturity is necessary up to a certain point, after which the introduction of more exible, informal initiatives would be needed for stimulating more innovative NPD and commercialization (Henard and Szymanski, 2001; Loch, 2000). Radically new NPD projects, for example, would require less structure, more exploration, and more process exibility than incremental projects because of their nature.

MethodologyPhase 1: Validation of the Six NPD DimensionsThrough the support of a PDMA research grant, an empirical examination of the Kahn et al. (2006) best practices framework was undertaken to address the three issues cited above. The rst phase of the study attended to the question of the frameworks inclusivity. A Delphi methodology was embarked on with 20 leading innovation researchers, who, after receiving an invitation,

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agreed to examine the denitions and degree to which the six given dimensions were inclusive of NPD content. Comments on the denition and scope of the dimensions were collected through three rounds; feedback during a third round suggested that a degree of consensus had been reached. The use of researchers was deemed appropriate for this rst phase based on the presumption that these researchers would be more holistic in their view of NPD, versus industry-specic, and attuned with NPD theory and models dening the NPD discipline as a whole. A number of Delphi participants agreed that the six dimensions were inclusive. As one expert remarked:The six dimensions look appropriate and inclusive. Although people might parse out other dimensions, most if not all could be handled in these six . . . seven or more dimensions gets cumbersome.

Creativity needs to be considered. Since you have Process to provide discipline, you might want to add a dimension for Creativity/Knowledge Management.

Comments also highlighted the need to account for a technical dimension:Your list looks pretty good but it seems to overlook the technological feasibility issue, which to me includes scientic/engineering dimensions: can it be done at all and can it be manufactured at an appropriate scale? I was wondering if technology can be another dimension, as companies may differ with respect to the level of technological tools such as the internet that they use in their NPD.

Some participants strongly prescribed that the six dimensions should be modied. Following subsequent rounds, the collective recommendation was the addition of a dimension concerning commercialization to encompass issues pertaining to marketing and launch. Three illustrative comments are as follows:Marketing should be a major dimension not just tucked into the end of the stage process. I am wondering if marketing could also be a separate dimension. The reasons for considering it are the increasingly fragmented nature of media and media selection (Internet, podcasts, etc.), market segmentation and positioning, value pricing, channel consolidation, and customer relationship management (CRM) can all have an impact on the NPD outcome. Consider a commercial dimension that addresses if the product can be manufactured and distributed protably in the context of the particular rm, its resources and capabilities, and the markets it can access?

Collaboration was another common theme:You might consider adding a dimension around collaborating with people/organizations outside the company for the purpose of developing products (vs. sensing). These might include customers, vendors, etc.

In sum, the Delphi methodology results led to modication of the original six dimensions. A seventh dimension pertaining to commercialization was added. The people dimension, which was considered too broad, was broken into the two dimensions of project climate and company culture. Project climate addressed intra-company and project-specic people issues, and company culture addressed cross-company values and extra-company alliances and partnerships. And the strategy dimension was merged with the portfolio management dimension due to portfolio management being strongly driven by strategy. Following the Delphi methodology, NPD practice was characterized across these seven dimensions:

Other expert comments led to denitional augmentations. For example, one comment pertained to the market research dimensions. As one expert noted:Wouldnt it be better to broaden the Market Research dimension into Research? When I look around here at my school, our students . . . (in the course of project work) . . . do a tremendous amount of research only part of which can be called market research.

strategy, process, research, project climate, company culture, metrics and performance measurement, and commercialization.

Phase 2: Expansion and Development of the NPD DimensionsUsing the redened seven dimensions, the second phase of the study involved the development and expansion of

Comments also pertained to the need to consider creativity and creativity management. Consider the following two comments by experts:



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the dimensions. A maturity model usually encompasses the following features (Paulk et al., 1993):

a number of maturity levels; a number of dimensions; and a description of how each dimension should be performed at each maturity level.

Consensus was reached during the Delphi process (phase 1) regarding the denition of the dimensions. The next step was to dene the maturity levels for each dimension and the practices indicative of a company operating at a particular maturity level. Typically, a continuum of improvement is seen in the practices used by companies operating at each increasing level of maturity within a framework. Characteristics were developed based on the ndings of general benchmarking studies (for example, Adams-Bigelow, 2004; Cooper et al., 2002, 2004a, 2004b) and reected a progression from poor to best practice. Below is a brief discussion of the individual characteristics that were selected for inclusion in each dimension of the framework. NPD strategy involves the dening and planning of a vision and focus for research and development (R&D), technology management, and product development efforts at the SBU, division, product line, and/or individual project levels, including the identication, prioritization, selection, and resource support of preferred projects. Characteristics of the strategy dimension of the framework were chosen to reect these activities across the four maturity levels: poor, good, better, and best. For example, characteristics of a poor maturity level reect an organization having no NPD goals and no system for portfolio management or prioritization resulting in a poorly balanced portfolio. At the other end of the spectrum best practice characteristics involve having welldeveloped and communicated clear NPD goals, projects in a portfolio that are aligned to the NPD strategy, and a portfolio management system is used to prioritize key projects and to ensure balance in the project portfolio. The use of an NPD process has frequently been cited as a differentiating factor between the success and the failure of NPD projects (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1995; Grifn, 1997b; Page, 1993). Within this framework, NPD process is dened as the implementation of product development stages and gates for moving products from concept to launch, coupled with those activities and systems that facilitate knowledge management for product development projects and the product development process. Best practice characteristics include the use of a formal NPD process that is documented and focuses effort on quality of execution but is also exible

and adaptable to meet the varying needs of individual projects, while poor practices are characterized by the absence of process or documentation to guide NPD. Understanding customer needs ultimately depends on an organizations capability for gathering and using market information to innovate successful projects. Therefore, the research dimension of the framework describes the application of methodologies and techniques to sense, learn about, and understand customers, competitors, and macro-environmental forces in the marketplace (e.g., focus groups, mail surveys, electronic surveys, and ethnographic study). Characteristics that are considered poor practice include incomplete market research, no customer/ user involvement, and no evaluation of technical or market results. On the other hand, best practice characteristics describe an organization where research is an integral part of development with customers highly involved in the process and different types of testing frequently undertaken depending on the projects individual needs. An innovative climate is a signicant factor for NPD success (Cooper et al., 2004a). Within this framework, project climate is dened as the means and ways that underlie and establish product development intracompany integration at the individual and team levels, including the leading, motivating, managing, and structuring of individual and team human resources. Characteristics of poor practice in this dimension describe a project climate where NPD work is completed by individuals on an ad-hoc basis while good practice describes a climate where NPD work is completed by dedicated, accountable, and empowered cross-functional teams. Within the framework, company culture is dened as the company management value system driving those means and ways that underlie and establish product development thinking and product development collaboration with external partners, including customers and suppliers. Characteristics of company culture include the level of managerial support for NPD, sources used for NPD ideas, and if creativity is rewarded and encouraged. Poor practice in this dimension is characterized by an organization where all NPD ideas originate inside the company, and senior management does not encourage creativity or does not support the NPD effort of the employees. In comparison, best practice is characterized by organizations that use multiple sources for ideas (suppliers, customers, competitors, etc.) and where senior management supports and rewards the NPD efforts of the employees. Measurement of NPD performance leads to improved product development performance (Cooper et al., 2004b; Godener and Soderquist, 2004). The metrics and performance measurement dimension of the framework

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includes the measurement, tracking, and reporting of product development project and product development program performance. Characteristics describing poor practice reect organizations using no metrics or evaluation criteria for their NPD capability. Best practice characteristics are found in organizations that set formal objectives against which performance can be evaluated and use varying metrics that are exible enough to meet the needs of individual products. Commercialization can be the most costly step of the NPD process with its costs often exceeding the combined cost for all previous stages (Urban and Hauser, 1980); thus, a company may only have one opportunity to launch a new product and to maximize their prots. Commercialization describes activities related to the marketing, launch, and postlaunch management of new products that stimulate customer adoption and market diffusion. Poor practice on this dimension is characterized by a lack of planning of the market launch, or a poorly managed market launch characterized by frequent and late changes or limited information sharing. Best practice is seen where market planning is an integral part of the development process and planning for the launch starts early in the development and is performed by a capable crossfunctional team. The output of this phase consisted of lists of practices that characterize each of the dimensions across each of the maturity levels.

in the United Kingdom, encouraging more effective cross-functional understanding and integration (Swan et al., 2007). R&D and commercial interests in the United Kingdom and Irish context are more clearly demarcated (Clark, 2003), leading to more problematic knowledge ows across the two domains (Swan et al., 2007). At the micro level, research has found evidence to suggest differences in managers styles of thinking because of different models of professional and educational institutions (Clark, 2003) and that Anglo-Irish contexts reect a larger degree of subordination to managerial superiority that embraces a tough results-oriented approach to managersubordinate relations, whereas Americans tend to rank high on individualism and achievement (Torrington, 1994). Such ndings support the three countries of the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland as a sufciently diverse sample set within which to explore and compare NPD practices.

QuestionnaireThe rst page of the questionnaire asked for demographic information regarding title, industry type, years of experience, and company size, along with innovation performance characteristics. The second page provided the denitions of the seven dimensions and asked respondents to indicate the relative importance of each element by allocating 100 points across the seven features. The third page of the survey provided respondents with the list of characteristics outlined for a particular dimension and asked them to indicate, for each element, whether it represented poor, good, better, or best practice. Pretest feedback from managers stressed that the survey be concise. Consequently, only one page of characteristics representing one of the seven dimensions was given to each survey participant, with the sheets of characteristics across the seven dimensions randomly assigned to survey participants.

Phase 3: Quantitative Survey of Managers from Three CountriesThe third phase of the study involved the development and implementation of a questionnaire to garner managers perceptions of these dimensions with regard to the issues of equality and maturity. NPD practitioners in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland served as the sample and allowed for an investigation of generalizability of results across country contexts. A pertinent question is whether these three countries are really different contexts. Evidence from various studies would suggest yes. Research has found distinctions between the United States and the United Kingdom. regarding general innovation activities at the macronational level (Clark, 1987; Owen-Smith, 2003). Other studies suggest that the United States has a stronger culture of commercialization, entrepreneurial values, and applied R&D as compared with the culture found in U.K./ Irish environments (Mallon, Duberley, and Cohen, 2005; Stokes, 1997). Personnel movement across R&D and commercial domains is stronger in the United States than

Survey Sample StatisticsFor the U.S. sample, practitioner members of PDMA, including program managers, directors, and managers of product development, were deemed as appropriate and qualied individuals to comment on innovation practice and represented the best company source for doing so. A sample of 2100 PDMA practitioner members was canvassed electronically and also received copies of the survey while attending the PDMA Annual October Conference in 2006. Following two electronic waves of the survey, 173 usable responses were collected, correspond-



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Table 1. Summary of Sample: Size and LocationEmployee Number

00 artigo usando metodo delphi em npd

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