Applied Research Area 2: Innovation Management and New Product Development

Focus: Projects this research area will explore the processes and practices of organizations that have demonstrated the ability to foster consistent and sustained success in developing and marketing new products in China

Context: Extant studies of new product design and development have focused in a piecemeal fashion the various dimensions of successful new product design & development. While extremely important, these studies fail to give a complete account of the intricate processes, management activities and marketing strategies that explain why and how organizations develop and market new products. This shortcoming is particularly pertinent in China, where research on new product design and development is at its infancy. We are therefore interested in understanding the key processes and approaches that firms have used in China and why they work or do not work.

Hypothesis: CMI hypothesizes that successful new product design and development is explained by the overall organizational innovation culture as well as the interaction of deep market understanding, new product strategy, effective processes, and organization conversion capability ? including marketing and business model innovations. By studying the interactions among these and other factors through a good analysis of academic theory as well as successful practices of companies in China, we can develop new insights that would be of value to both practitioners and academics.

Questions of interest:
1. How do firms develop innovation culture ? which strategies work and which don’t?
2. What role does Chinese culture play in building an innovation culture?
3. What metrics do firms use to score successful new product design, development and marketing?
4. What are the key processes for understanding customers and markets?
5. How to successful firms recognize and select new product opportunities?
6. What are the processes and structures used by successful firms to manage new product design, development and marketing?
7. What describes effective conversion capability of firms ? ability to turn new product ideas into successful market businesses?
8. What role does Chinese culture play in successful design and development?