Patterns in NPD: searching for consistent configurations. A pilot of Dutch, Finnish and Portuguese cases

Companies pursuing sustained competitive advantage through continuous innovation are confronted with the tension between today’s work and tomorrow’s innovation. Based on the assumption that a holistic understanding of the relationships between strategy, processes, structure, and culture of New Product Development (NPD) imbedded in their overall context will contribute to the identification of consistent NPD configurations with sustained innovation performance, this paper reports on the search for so-called ‘Patterns in NPD’. In order to investigate whether different types of consistent NPD configurations might be identified through a quantitative research design, a so-called quick scan using a structured questionnaire was carried out in Dutch, Portuguese and Finnish firms (n=82). The results of this quick scan, which was seen as a pilot study for larger scale data collection, did highlight some practices in NPD configurations that can be related to Key Success Factors identified in best practice studies, such as: a dedicated project organization, an organisational culture fostering personal engagement and encouraging individuality and creativity, and a strategic NPD programme with a long-term thrust. Results also indicated possible pattern variety among the different countries (esp. Portugal vs Finland and the Netherlands) and a first indication of possible relationships between NPD strategy, structure and culture based on a bi-variate correlation analysis.