From the Special Issue Editors: An Introduction to the Special Issue on Decision Making in New Product Development and Innovation

Several factors that need to be considered to ensure the efficient new product development (NPD) and innovation in an organization are presented. NPD and innovation decisions are strategic organizational decisions made by individuals or groups that impact firm performance. Strategy research suggests many strategic decisions follow the basic phases of problem identification, development, and selection. Various theories offer propositions regarding each of these steps such as organizational information processing theory examines the conditions under which information is noticed and how it is communicated and interpreted. Organizational information processing involves scanning, interpretation, and learning. Information processing structures drive firm strategies. Research opportunities include examination of the cognitive and conflict aspects of decision making. The research opportunities include examining decision-making structures when multiple units, multiple firms, and networks of firms are involved in NPD and innovation.