New product development processes within the Australian software industry

It is widely acknowledged that new product and new service development are critical to the survival and performance of firms today. New Product Development (NPD) research emphasises the importance of employing models that aim to reduce new product risk and increase the likelihood of success. The bulk of this theory comes from traditional manufacturing enterprises, however, more recently researchers have begun to investigate whether these well established models and NPD practices are applicable to services (Johne and Storey 1998). While there has been a great deal of research into the manufacturing industry, little is known about product development processes within firms that are characterised by high pressure, dynamic markets and intense competition. This research investigates new product development processes within the software industry. This industry has, at face value, very different characteristics from traditional manufacturing firms. Through in-depth interviews with a range of stakeholders in the software industry, this research found that common, linear NPD models are not appropriate in the development of new software. The development of new products was identified as requiring a more iterative and, at the same time, organic or unstructured procedure than that commonly presented in NPD models.