Towards a conceptual framework for product vision

Purpose – Many publications emphasize the importance of product vision and its contribution to successful product development. However, the current literature lacks a definition. The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model that unites and organizes the definitions of product vision, the construct’s latent components, and demonstrates the relationship of product vision to the existing theories. Design/methodology/approach – The study conducted two exploratory literature reviews to find the initial key concepts, and a systematic literature review to define the product vision construct and identify its components. Findings – This paper proposes a framework that defines product vision through two main elements (textual and visual) and four main properties (concise, challenging, aligned with strategy, and collectively obtained). Research limitations/implications – While the proposed framework constructs a more precise definition of product vision, more research is required to validate the construct in practice. Originality/value – This paper reduces the ambiguity around the definitions of product vision employed in areas such as design management, project management, and product development by proposing an operational definition. This common and useful construct could support the communication and complementarity between these theories.