Product–firm compatibility in new product development in technology companies

Abstract

We present an exploratory investigation of how managers conceptualize and perceive 'product–firm compatibility' variables in successful and unsuccessful new product development (NPD) projects, and explore the role that they play in differentiating between successful and unsuccessful NPD outcomes. The findings show that managers perceive two distinctive types of product–firm compatibility factors, technology and marketing. Furthermore an 'advertising–finance' factor in the unsuccessful NPD projects emerged. Consequently differences exist in metric equivalence across successful and unsuccessful NPD projects, and thus the comparison of the successful and unsuccessful NPD projects should be done with caution. All product–firm compatibility variables and factors are positively related to NPD success. The managers, however, put lower relative importance to marketing in comparison to technology variables and factors.