Resource adequacy in new product development: a discriminant analysis

New product development (NPD) is crucial to the survival and thriving of a business entity and a firm’s sources of advantages are important to the NPD success. This paper explores the marketing and technical resources adequacy of Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in NPD. A survey of 276 Australian SMEs in the chemical and machinery industries was conducted. Analytical procedures include factor analysis, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis. Findings from these analyses suggest that three distinct groups in terms of their NPD resources exist in Australian SMEs: one group with rich marketing and technical resources and skills, one with rich technical resource only, and one with rich technical skill only. The organisational and managerial characteristics of each group of these firms are described. The findings imply that different resource groups need to adopt different strategies in NPD.