NPD - The 2011 Growth Imperative
Optimizing Speed and Cost in New Product Development
The third quarter 2010 Aberdeen Business Review found that over one half of manufacturers are focused on profitability and margin growth. This strategic focus is much higher in the manufacturing industries as compared to other industries which are opting to focus on organic growth. The same report also found that manufacturers are more focused on developing new products than other industries. Unfortunately, while the pursuit of growth and product innovation is optimistic, cost-cutting is back in vogue in the manufacturing industry. The imperative for growth in 2011 then will be to excel in innovation and new product development (NPD) despite lean organizations budgets. This report offers insight into how leading companies are approaching this daunting task.
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The processes employed by the Best-in-Class may not be surprising. In fact, the most commonly cited process capabilities do not appear in Figure 5 because they were also relatively common in Industry Average and Laggard Companies. These included development processes having standardized milestones (89%) and documented development process definitions (81%). While these may not be differentiators for the Best-in-Class, it is still recommended that companies put these capabilities in place.
The most differentiated process that Best-in-Class companies utilize is formal project management techniques (77%). While this is not a new concept and a generally accepted best practice, it was surprising to see that less than one-half (46%) of Industry Average companies have formal project management techniques in place. That was also an issue in Laggard Companies, where only about one-third (31%) utilized these best practice approaches.
How Demand Metric Can Help
If you need to formalize your product management techniques, check out the following templates:
Product Development Maturity Assessment
Product Development Plan Template
Product Development Objectives Template
Product Development Metrics Dashboard
Product Launch Checklist Template
Product Portfolio and Lifecycle Matrix
Need More? Check out our "Product Development" Section...
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