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New products and innovation are the lifeblood of an organization (Gürlek, 2020). However, it is difficult to do innovation and new product development is risky. Many new products fail (Victory, Nenycz-Thiel, Dawes, Tanusondjaja, & Corsi, 2021). Nevertheless, companies invest in innovation and new product development to sustain and to move ahead in the competition (Cooper, 2019). Companies adopt processes for finding and growing successful new products. Once introduced in the market, companies want their products to enjoy long and happy lives (Horvat, Granato, Fogliano, & Luning, 2019). However, in many cases, the journey is not a smooth one. Every product passes through several stages of development, and each stage poses new challenges regarding different marketing strategies and tactics. Companies should create a culture of customer-focused innovation and a seemingly endless flow of inspired new products (Kokins, Straujuma, & Lapiņa, 2021). Such products should feature stunning design, innovative technology, life-enriching characteristics, and should be able to delight customers (Potra, Pugna, Negrea, & Izvercian, 2018).
The importance and requirement of developing new products and the necessity of integrating innovation in the organizational culture cannot be overemphasized. However, although the topic is important, there are few studies addressing the management of new product development in organizations and integrating innovation in the process. The study aims to address this research gap.
The objective of the study is to understand the various aspects of how companies manage new product development and how they incorporate innovation in their processes.
The methodology adopted is a conceptual analysis of the various aspects of new product development and innovation and how new product development and innovation are linked with each other. Primary data is not collected and empirical analysis is not done.
The novelty and the contributions of the study lie in the fact that various aspects related to innovation and new product development are discussed. Both academicians and practicing managers will understand the various approaches to innovation viz. customer-centered innovation, team-based innovation, and systematic innovation. They will realize the importance of investing more in innovation and new product development during turbulent times. This is contrary to the practice of reducing the investments in innovation during tough times. They will also appreciate that a huge market exists in emerging economies and for individuals at the bottom of the pyramid. If invested properly in such markets, companies will receive substantial returns. Based on the discussions, academicians may suggest improvements in the existing practices adopted by companies. Practicing managers may analyze which strategies and initiatives they should adopt in future to excel in innovation and new product development.
The study is structured as follows.
The importance of innovation and new product development for organizations and company growth is discussed in section 2. Organizations should be willing and ready to adopt innovation. This is discussed in section 3. Companies adopt a number of approaches towards innovation and new product development. The approaches include customer-centered innovation (discussed in section 4), team-based innovation (discussed in section 5), and systematic innovation (discussed in section 6). Companies should think of doing innovation during tough and turbulent times and this aspect is discussed in section 7. Enormous opportunities for innovation and new product development exist in emerging markets and at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). This is discussed in section 8. Section 9 discusses the salient points of the study with sub-sections 9.1 and 9.2 focusing on the theoretical implications and the managerial implications of the study respectively. Section 10 concludes the study with sub-sections 10.1 and 10.2 highlighting the limitations of the study and the avenues of future research respectively.