The correlation between product development strategy and business performance: an investigation of UK SMEs

摘要

Summary form only given. This paper draws on the results of a study by questionnaire and structured interview of over 100 UK SMEs undertaken during 1999 and 2000. To this has been added data from a number of in depth case studies carried out by PDR research staff over the past four years. The research has been aimed at attempting to identify the relationship between the strategic management and performance of the product development function and overall business performance. The study involved senior management teams from SMEs in the manufacturing sector and focused on activities relating to the NPD strategies employed by such companies. This work has resulted in the identification of a number of issues that bear upon the effectiveness of NPD in these SMEs and the link that this has with the realisation of overall business strategy.