Assessing operational NPD effectiveness and strategic NPD flexibility for the design of new product development configurations

Organising and managing New Product Development pro-actively requires continuous balancing of internal and external demands and constraints, and of short- and long-term considerations and objectives. These dualities in this paper are considered under the performance dimensions operational effectiveness and strategic flexibility. When searching for guidelines for designing NPD configurations for improved NPD performance, it is crucial that one is able to relate specific organisational ‘patterns’ to both performance dimensions. The paper specifically deals with the issue of how to quantitatively assess NPD’s operational effectiveness and strategic flexibility, for the ultimate purpose of assessing the contribution made by various NPD configurations to achieving NPD objectives. The operationalisation of both constructs is reported in the form of a review of the literature for measurements of operational NPD effectiveness and strategic NPD flexibility, further structured by a subdivision in product concept effectiveness (fit with market demands, fit with firm competencies) and NPD process effectiveness (speed, productivity, flexibility). The resulting scales are included as an appendix. Preliminary analysis of a validation test shows promising results in terms of reliability.