New product development in New Zealand: performances and influencing factors

This study is the first of its kind to assess the relative success of different new product development (NPD) strategies among 99 New Zealand firms. Of great concern is that none of the project strategies resulted in satisfactory profit margins. The findings indicate relatively poorer performance in measures of NPD process quality than in measures of product outcomes. Despite a general lack of formalised process and strategy among our sample firms, we find that when present, these factors correlate significantly with improved performance in specific measures of NPD effectiveness. Notably, more innovative projects produce better results than incremental innovations.