Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore fuzzy front end (FFE) of new product development (NPD) in Japanese manufacturing companies and report on the key factors for success with regard to the front end activities of NPD. Design/methodology/approach – On the basis of the literature...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a basic list of items that many standard empirical papers need and to highlight some common and fixable problems, as well as some corresponding suggestions and solutions such that authors can turn good research into good papers that have an...