The Fuzzy Front End of New Product Development for Brazilian Technology-Based Companies in the Medical Device Industry: a Causal Model
The Fuzzy Front End (FFE) is considered the first stage of New Product Development (NPD).The fuzzy front end decisions have great impact on product quality, costs, and time spent onnew product projects. This paper seeks to identify which fuzzy front end activities and practicescontribute the most to...
| Autores: | , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2011 |
| País: | Brasil |
| Recursos: | Associação Brasileira de Engenharia de Produção (ABEPRO) |
| Repositorio: | Brazilian Journal of Operations & Production Management (Online) |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ojs.bjopm.org.br:article/124 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://bjopm.org.br/bjopm/article/view/V8N1A6 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Fuzzy front end New product development Medical device industry |
| Resumo: | The Fuzzy Front End (FFE) is considered the first stage of New Product Development (NPD).The fuzzy front end decisions have great impact on product quality, costs, and time spent onnew product projects. This paper seeks to identify which fuzzy front end activities and practicescontribute the most to new product success of Brazilian Technology-Based Companies (TBCs)in the medical device industry and to provide a causal model for the fuzzy front end of newproduct development. The data were obtained by a survey carried out in 30 small companiesincluding 49 new product projects. The companies were requested to choose new successful andunsuccessful product projects. The results demonstrate that successful projects are distinguishedfrom unsuccessful projects due the follow practices: marketing orientation, the companycompetence to translate client needs into product characteristics, proficiency in idea generation,the interface between Marketing and R&D in the fuzzy front-end and the role performed bythe leader project. Having got these findings, it was possible to propose a causal model withthe critical success factor in four dimensions: strategic; process; organization; and leadership. |
|---|