This paper presents results of an empirical large-scale study on uncertainty reduction of R&D projects and R&D project selection. The empirical field is the German automotive supplier industry. We explore R&D project selection practices in this specific industry and briefly contrast our findings...

Die Entwicklung innovativer Produkte wird für Unternehmen in einem zunehmenden Wettbewerb immer wichtiger. Insbesondere Innovationen mit einem hohen Neuigkeitsgrad, so genannte Breakthroughs bieten einem Unternehmen die Möglichkeit, sich von seinen Wettbewerbern nachhaltig abzusetzen. Zu...

Kundenorientierung ist entscheidend für den Innovationserfolg!; Obwohl dem Wissenschaftler und Praktiker in der Marktforschung grundsätzlich zustimmen dürften, ist mit der konsequenten Ausrichtung auf die Kundenbedürfnisse gleichzeitig der Nachteil einer konservativen Innovationspolitik...

Because of the high degree of technological complexity and the increasing convergence of new technologies, it is becoming more and more difficult to develop advanced products for those companies who solely rely on their own in-house 'core competencies'. One possible response made to these rising...

The use of the internet for business purposes and among consumers is spreading at an impressive rate. Companies use it for a lot of different activities like, for example, marketing, online shopping and customer service. However, the use of the internet for the purpose of innovation, to create...

The intensive concern with customer needs and problems is one of the key contributors to the success of innovation management. During the seventies, numerous procedures were developed, in theory as well as in practice. These procedures entered literature as so called need-assessment approaches...

Analogies can trigger breakthrough ideas in new product development. Numerous examples demonstrate that substantial innovations often result from transferring problem solutions from one industry or domain to another. For instance, the designers of the new running shoe generation of Nike, Nike...

Our study focuses on the question, whether users should be intensively involved in the innovation process of radical product innovations or better not - from the manufacturer's perspective. Radical innovations incorporate new technologies, shift market structures, require intensive user learning...

In this paper we explore how knowledge brokers - specialised design and engineering companies offering services to clients in diverse industries - use analogies for product development. Our research is based on interviews with project leaders of 13 knowledge brokering companies. The interviews...

In this study we research user integration in the German service industry. Goal is to explore the industrial practice with regard to four dimensions of user integration, i.e., why, whom, how, and how successful the service industry integrates to find novel service ideas. Data is collected from a...