The Search for Broad Environmental Information and New Product Development Success in Technology-Based SMEs

In this study we examined the relationships between environmental scanning and information sources on new product development (NPD) success in a sample of 112 Korean technology-based SMEs. We found a significant positive relationship between scanning the task sectors of the environment of customers, competitors and technology on the timeliness and creativity of the NPD process. We also found that external personal sources of customers, competitors and suppliers/distributors and internal sources of employees, company library, etc. had a significant positive relationship with NPD success, while the use of professional sources of information such as lawyers, bankers and trade and industry association members had a negative impact on NPD success. We discuss the findings and their implications.