New product development process in the aerospace industry. the introduction of new process - Essay Example

History presents several organisations that have ceased to exist simply because of their lack of innovativeness and new products. In the present global society where products become obsolete and services out of date very quickly, new products are the key to success for any business house, be it domestic or international (Lancaster, & Withey, 2007). On the other hand, it is also true that NPD involves huge costs. In fact it is one of the most risk-laden areas among all the operational activities.

Moreover, new products are often found to be struggling to achieve the expected success in the market. Failure of new product is very likely to damage the company’s reputation. New product development process of any company is subjected to several barriers which vary from country to country. This literature review includes a discussion on the barriers to new product development process in the context of UK. However, prior to that it is very important to gain insight into the details of the fundamentals that govern a new product development process.

The process of new product development involves several steps. The process starts from idea generation and ends with commercialisation. In between of these two, there are steps like screening, business analysis, development and test marketing. Success of a new product depends on the diligence with which a company has followed these steps. According to David L. Kurtz, MacKenzie and Kim Snow, “traditionally, most of the companies have developed new products through phased development, which follows the six step process in an orderly sequence” (Kurtz, MacKenzie & Snow, 2009).

Responsibility regarding each phase moves first from product planners to engineers and designers. In the final phase it passes to the marketers. The phased development process is effective for those firms that dominate