Increased competitive pressure from low-cost economies and substituting materials has raised the need for new strategies focusing on product differentiation in the Nordic wood industry. With the aim to identify factors that can facilitate increased product innovation activity, this study compared organizational characteristics and perceived barriers to product development among innovating and non-innovating strategic business units (SBUs) in the Swedish and Finnish wood industry. Multivariate analysis of data from a cross-sectional sample of 110 SBUs suggested that organizational size and educational level among white-collar workers are significant antecedents of product innovation activity. Furthermore, the difficulty of giving practical priority to development work in the everyday stress was identified as the most important perceived barrier to product development among managers in both innovating and non-innovating SBUs. A low competence level among the personnel and a low need to innovate was perceived to be the second most important barriers to product development among managers in, respectively, innovating and non-innovating SBUs. Practitioners who wish to increase product innovation activity in the wood industry are advised to promote an increased educational level in wood industry companies. They are further encouraged to seek ways to reduce the perceived barriers to product innovation identified in this study.

This study used data on project management from 70 recent product development projects in the wood industry. The objective was to test the influence of some project management factors, known from cross-industry research to be keys to product development project success, on product development project success in the context of the wood industry. Through the use of hierarchical multiple regression analysis, it was found that both the sharpness of the product concept definition and the strength of the project leader had significant positive influences on the success of product development projects. Conversely, product advantage, team cross-functionality and customer involvement did not have a significant positive influence on the success of these projects. The latter even indicated a negative influence on product development project success. Project uncertainty, as manifested in the degree of newness of the technology and the marketing strategies of the product to the innovating strategic business unit, did not influence the relationship between project management factors and product development project success. Some of the findings were unexpected and may be explained by the industry's unaccustomedness to customer co-operation and the fact that product development in the wood industry takes place within conventional technology and market bounds.

No abstract

No abstract