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Top1. Introduction
The future of a company is shaped by the development of new offerings (Bodlaj, Kadic-Maglajlic, & Vida, 2020). Companies should invest in the development of new offerings. Otherwise, a company is destined to rely on acquiring new products which are developed by other companies. Companies will not be able achieve sustained growth without focusing on innovation, new product development, and without developing new products (Oktapia, Siagian, & Tarigan, 2022). The development of new offerings is the engine that drives the success of a company. It enables companies to challenge industry norms and to apply imaginative solutions that result in customer engagement and customer delight (Roy, Gruner, & Guo, 2022).
Innovation and new product development are linked with each other. Development of new products is not possible without innovation. Innovation is the key to developing viable new offerings (Vettorello, Eisenbart, & Ranscombe, 2022). However, innovation is not limited to the development of new products and services. It can involve a new technology, a new approach to brand building, a new pricing mechanism, a new way of managing incentives, new channels of communication, or a novel distribution method (Codini, Abbate, & Petruzzelli, 2022). It is imperative for all industries to invest in innovation. However, innovation is more important for those industries which are characterized by high technological uncertainty, high market uncertainty, fierce competition, high investment costs, and short product life cycles (Alsahli & Bantan, 2022). Existing business models get disrupted by the introduction of innovative offerings. Companies which fail to adapt to changing market conditions are not able to sustain and to grow in the competition (Dall-Orsoletta, Romero, & Ferreira, 2022). Innovative offerings devise new ways to create market value (Choi, Lim, & Jeon, 2022).
The discussions emphasize the importance of innovation and new product development in the growth of a company. The starting point is the generation of innovative ideas by companies. The ideas should be innovative and effective in meeting and solving customer requirements. Companies should manage the process of idea generation well. Any issues in the idea generation phase will continue in the subsequent steps and will affect the entire process of new product development. Consequently, any issues in the idea generation phase will be carried forward in the subsequent phases and may hinder the process of new product development. Companies should handle the idea generation phase properly. Although the topic is important, few studies focus on the important aspect of analyzing the idea generation phase and the issues related to the phase. The study aims to address this research gap.
The objective of the study is to analyze the various aspects of idea generation phase in new product development. Idea generation is the most important phase in new product development and should be analyzed properly. Various approaches and issues related to idea generation phase are discussed.
The methodology adopted is a conceptual analysis of the various aspects of idea generation, new product development, and innovation in organizations. Latest literature available in research papers which are published in reputed academic journals are referred to and analyzed. Primary data is not collected and empirical analysis is not done.
The novelty and the contributions of the study lie in the fact that an in-depth conceptual analysis about the various aspects related to generation and validation of ideas for new products is done. Academicians may study and analyze the different approaches for generation of viable ideas, different market research tools for idea generation and validation of ideas for new products, and multiple methods which are used for generation of ideas. Based on the analysis, academicians may suggest approaches, market research tools, and multiple methods which are more effective in generation and validation of ideas for new products. Practicing managers may evaluate the effectiveness of the approaches, market research tools, and multiple methods for idea generation and validation of ideas. They may also investigate which approaches, market research tools, and multiple methods should be incorporated so that the process of idea generation is effective. This will enable innovative companies to sustain and to grow in the competition and to achieve business excellence.
The study is structured as follows.