A study of internal and external organizational integration, new product development proficiency, and success

The purpose of this research is to extend knowledge of new product success by investigating the following important questions: (1) What is the correlation between the degree of new product success and the degree of integration created by organizations such as new product development (NPD) teams and customers; (2) What is the relationship between the degree of organizational integration and the proficiency with which NPD stage are performed; and (3) What is the association between the proficiency with which NPD stages are performed and the degree of new product market success.;The research design for this study entailed a field survey and obtained information concerning the MOST and LEAST successful new products of firms in three technology-driven industries. The three industries selected include the medical instruments, heavy construction equipment, and electrical equipment. Mail surveys were directed to individuals with access to detailed knowledge of their firm's new products and NPD processes and strategies. Each potential respondent received two questionnaires, one regarding one of his/her firm's most successful and the other regarding one of his/her firm's least successful new product developments. The respondents were requested to select products that had been developed and launched between January 1988 and January 1992. This provided a four year window from which respondents could select new products while also providing at least one year for each firm to ascertain the successfulness of their new products.;Overall organizational integration was found to be significantly correlated with new product success. New product profit was the specific success measure associated with this particular finding. In addition, internal integration which is defined as the integration between a new product development (NPD) team and a firm's functional departments was found to be very significantly related to new product success (profit). Other important findings include the significant relationship between new product development proficiency during the post launch period and the degree of integration between the NPD team and external NPD organizations such as customers and suppliers. During the post launch period new product development proficiency was significantly related to new product success when success was represented by new product sales. (Abstract shortened by UMI.);A model was developed to address these questions. The model proposed relationships between new product success, organizational integration, new product proficiency, and internal organizational and external contextual variables.