Front-loading the front-end of innovation
Wilfred Dolfsma
Wageningen university, netherlands Professor of business management & organisation
René van der Eijk
Project manager for innovative projects
Surya Mahdi
University of bristol, uk Lecturer in strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship at the school of management
Abstract
The Stage-Gate process is a tool used by innovation managers to rationalize resource allocation the innovation process by breaking the innovation process into different stages, and determining progress and prospects at gates using pre-determined criteria. This study determines the performance impact of investing financial resources relatively heavily in the front-end or early stages of new product development (NPD) projects. Data was collected for NPD projects for one of the largest consumer electronics firms in the world. Investing relative more resources in frontend activities positively affects performance. The degree of newness of an NPD project positively moderates this relationship.
Keywords: New product Development (NPD), Front-end of Innovation, Resource allocation, Stage gate model/process..
