An approach to new product development management in SMEs

Author

Yan, B.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Ind. & Syst. Eng., Cape Peninsula Univ. of Technol., Cape Town, South Africa

fYear

2010

fDate

7-10 Dec. 2010

Firstpage

1072

Lastpage

1076

Abstract

In current dynamic manufacturing environment, Small, Medium Enterprises (SMEs) must develop new products successfully in order to maintain a competitive advantage. SMEs differ from large companies due to their limited resources. Currently, most of SMEs lack a structured process in their New Product Development (NPD) management. NPD is vital for SMEs to survive in a competitive business environment. Data collected through interviews and survey questionnaires from 40 SMEs in the Western Cape Province, South Africa suggest that SMEs need a more structured NPD model which consists of critical elements such as management commitment, employee involvement, product strategy, new product quality, customer satisfaction, and feedback of new product launching.

Keywords

customer satisfaction; personnel; product development; small-to-medium enterprises; customer satisfaction; employee involvement; management commitment; new product development management; new product launching feedback; new product quality; product strategy; small, medium enterprises; Africa; Companies; Manufacturing; Market research; Product development; Technological innovation; Critical Management Factors; NPD Model; NPD process; SMEs; South Africa;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM), 2010 IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Macao

ISSN

2157-3611

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-8501-7

Electronic_ISBN

2157-3611

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEEM.2010.5674249

Filename

5674249