Auditing best practice for effective product innovation management

Over the past number of years, researchers and industrialists have recognised the need for and the importance of developing approaches to enhance competitive advantage in new product development. However, the product innovation process is extremely complex and involves the effective management of many different activities. Despite the fact that many tools and techniques have been developed in an attempt to make this process more effective, product development projects are still prone to failure. The authors surveyed senior research and development managers in an attempt to identify the critical success factors for effective product innovation management (PIM). From this, a best practice model and scorecard were developed. The scorecard enables managers to measure their performance in terms of product innovation management against best practice. It provides an overview of a company's strengths and areas for improvement with regard to product innovation management, highlighting those areas that require attention. The product innovation model and scorecard are presented, discussed and validated using case study analysis. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.