Challenges and Enablers for Rapid Product Development

Abstract

This article describes how new product development (NPD) is critical to maintaining a strong market position. However, full-scale NPD may consume too much time and resources when necessary to react quickly to customer needs or emerging business opportunities. Rapid development (RaDe) is a type of incremental product development complementing the organizations' existing NPD process. In RaDe, new sales items are created by redesigning or upgrading existing products inexpensively, and in a timely manner. This article aims at clarifying the challenges and enablers relating to RaDe implementation in four case companies and by the means of reviewing literature. The identified challenges include the difficulty of differentiating between product developments models, the lack of clear definition for RaDe and issues in product data management. The enablers include structuring and managing projects differently compared to NPD, the utilization of existing supply-chain capabilities and the designed products fitting the current business processes to enable rapid product ramp-ups.

How small enterprises manage unexpected customer requests in B2B sales

“…Selection is easier if a supply vendor is well known in advance (see e.g. Verrollot et al, 2017;2018). A new vendor is a clear risk factor and should be selected only after careful evaluation, which may not be possible in event of a UCR.…”

How small enterprises manage unexpected customer requests in B2B sales

“…Selection is easier if a supply vendor is well known in advance (see e.g. Verrollot et al, 2017;2018). A new vendor is a clear risk factor and should be selected only after careful evaluation, which may not be possible in event of a UCR.…”