Towards Holistic “Front Ends” In New Product Development
研究了12家美日企业的新产品开发前端活动，发现成功的关键在于采取整体性方法，将业务战略、产品战略和产品决策有效连接，并探讨了正式流程与文化导向两种实现路径。
Any firm that hopes to compete on the basis of innovation clearly must be proficient in all phases of the new‐product development (NPD) process. However, the real keys to success can be found in the activities that occur before management makes the go/no‐go decision for any NPD project. In other words, the most significant benefits can be achieved through improvements in the performance of the front‐end activities—product strategy formulation and communication, opportunity identification and assessment, idea generation, product definition, project planning, and executive reviews. Noting the inherent difficulty of managing the front end, Anil Khurana and Stephen R. Rosenthal discuss findings from in‐depth case studies of the front‐end practices in 18 business units from 12 U.S. and Japanese companies. They offer a process view of the activities that the front end comprises, and they discuss the insights that their case studies provide regarding key success factors for managing the front‐end activities. The case studies involved companies in industries ranging from consumer packaged goods to electronics and industrial products. Foremost among the insights provided by the case studies is the notion that the greatest success comes to organizations that take a holistic approach to the front end. A successful approach to the front end effectively links business strategy, product strategy, and product‐specific decisions. Forging these links requires a process that integrates such elements as product strategy, development portfolio, concept development, overall business justification, resource planning, core team roles, executive reviews, and decision mechanisms. The case studies suggest that firms employ two general approaches for achieving these links. Some companies rely on a formal process to lend some order and predictability to the front end. Other companies strive to foster a company‐wide culture in which the key participants in front‐end activities always remain focused on the following considerations: business vision, technical feasibility, customer focus, schedule, resources, and coordination. This cultural approach is more prevalent among the Japanese firms in the study; the U.S. firms tend to rely on formality of the front‐end process. The case studies also suggest that the front‐end approach must be compatible with the firm's product, market, and organizational contexts. For example, standardized approaches seem to work best for incremental innovations.