Classification and Use of Methods and Tools in New Product Development

The new product development (NPD) is considered an important business process to determine the competitive advantage of companies. In order to launch products successfully, methods and tools have been applied by companies for improving and supporting the activities performed in that process. However, a comprehensive and integrative classification of new product development methods and tools is not clear. Beyond that, regarding how useful the practitioners consider the methods and tools, the adoption, diffusion and application dimensions of them are still research challenges. To address these issues, the aim of this research is to present a classification of methods and tools, besides to present which of them are really applied and useful in new product development of companies. The novelty of this proposal involves the practical perspective encompassing the practitioner's point of view, which goes beyond the theoretical perspective. Methods and tools identified by means of literature review were classified using a qualitative approach. The classification was validated by practitioners of ten companies specialized in product development. Key findings of the classification proposed are presented based on the following categories: performance objective related, added value, complexity and implementation cost. Finally, the research provides an overview of the usefulness and attractiveness of methods and tools. It can support a valuable guidance for companies in order to improve the use of the most useful ones.