Marketplace complexity and dynamics create an environment that increases the uncertainty of innovation activities. In this context systematic management of innovation and product management are increasingly important for company success. This book presents the fundamentals of innovation and product management and introduces the reader to a holistic process model with particular focus on innovation and uncertainty. This integrated consideration of innovation management and product innovation within an interdisciplinary approach represents a unique characteristic of this book. The book is designed to address the needs of managers who want a practical but well-researched guide to innovation and product management. Graduate and advanced undergraduate students would also find the chapters in this book particularly useful.

This book is an essential guide or foundational toolkit for anyone who is involved in the process of developing, offering or selling any type of product or service. Based on how to surf on the waves of innovation and the principle of “form follows function” (System Architecture), it introduces and connects concepts like Market Understanding, Design Thinking, Design to Value, Modularization and Agility. It introduces readers to the essence of these main frameworks and provides a toolkit that explains both theoretically and practically when and how to utilize which one. The methods and processes described in this book have all been successfully tested in many industries. They apply in today’s market context of high uncertainty, complexity and turbulence, where innovation and disruption are essential. Readers will find answers to two fundamental questions: How can we implement an innovation process and environment that are conducive to successful product design? And, if our products fail to appeal to customers, how can we achieve a major turn-around with regard to product development? A wealth of examples and case studies help readers to benefit from the authors’ broad professional experience. Further, lessons learned and conceptual summaries provide valuable shortcuts to the methods and tools discussed. For today’s CEOs, enabling innovation is one of THE most complex leadership tasks. But innovation is not about theory and nice buzzwords. It’s about succeeding in the real world. This ‘hands-on’ book connects the dots and introduces the reader to some of the most relevant ideas and pragmatic concepts fitting today’s business reality. Dr. Robert Neuhauser, Executive VP and Global Head People and Leadership Development, Siemens At the most fundamental level this book brings order to chaos. It sets different and highly relevant design approaches into a complementary picture, rather than presenting them as competing ways of solving the same problem. Product designers, managers, consultants, scholars and students will surely have this valuable book within reach on a daily basis. Olivier L. de Weck, Ph.D – MIT Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems, Editor-in-Chief Systems Engineering

This textbook provides a unique and original understanding on innovation and on product design and development, and on their tight interconnections. It presents an integrated and holistic perspective on these two fields, allowing readers to understand how the phenomenon of innovation occurs – and must be managed – at different and interacting levels, from corporate strategy to design decision-making. This book explores these themes in a scientifically rigorous manner, associating academic findings with examples from business. It provides readers with the conceptual and decision-making tools required to understand and manage the process of innovation at different levels, from the analysis of industry-wide phenomena to the formulation of a strategy, and from the planning of operations to the management of technical choices. Chapters cover innovation as an economic and social phenomenon, the formulation of innovation strategy, the management of product development processes and projects and the technical design of products and services. Offering an invaluable resource to postgraduate students in economics, management and engineering, this book is also intended for managers and entrepreneurs. The book's topics are covered by associating academic findings with examples from business. For this new second edition of the book, case studies are made available through a companion LinkedIn page that is continuously updated by authors and by readers, while pointers to complementary content available on the internet are provided throughout the text.

This book offers new insights into the complex set of activities and decisions of product innovation management. It provides concepts, methods, and tools that can help accelerate the introduction of successful products to the market in an increasingly competitive and changing business landscape. It also offers examples and case studies, and it is the result of more than 20 years of study, research, and consulting carried out by the two authors in the field of innovation management. The book discusses the demanding challenges of product innovation and offers practitioners guidance on how to respond to these challenges. It presents a three-level framework (the “innovation pyramid”), which reflects the core components of a firm’s innovation capability: first, intelligence - absorbing information and knowledge from the outside world by looking beyond the familiar territories of the current market, technology, and customers; second, discovery - exploring opportunities for innovation through creative ideation and technology experimentation; and third, development - transforming opportunities into profitable new products and services.

Increasing pressures to produce new products faster and cheaper are resulting in huge efforts to streamline and restructure the traditional new product development (NPD) process. The purpose of the book is to describe, assess and apply the latest constructs, methods, techniques and processes to enable managers, professionals, and practitioners to be more effective in designing, developing and commercializing new products and services. It provides guidance and support in formulating and executing NPD programs for business practitioners and MBA students. The book is written from an Integrated Product Development (IPD) perspective, linking all aspects of marketing, costing and manufacturing into the development process even before the first prototype is built. It covers the advanced tools necessary to achieve this such as virtual prototyping and fully integrated business systems, and explains the changes needed to organizational structure and thinking.

Iteration rules product development, but it isn't enough to produce dramatic results. This book champions Radical Product Thinking, a systematic methodology for building visionary, game-changing products. In the last decade, we've learned to harness the power of iteration to innovate faster—we've invested in a fast car, but our ability to set a clear destination and navigate to it hasn't kept up. When we iterate without a clear vision or strategy, our products become bloated, fragmented, and driven by irrelevant metrics. They catch “product diseases” that often kill innovation. Radical Product Thinking (RPT) gives organizations a repeatable model for building world-changing products. The key? Being vision-driven instead of iteration-led. R. Dutt guides readers through the five elements of the methodology (vision, strategy, prioritization, execution and measurement, and culture) to develop a clear process for translating vision into reality, and turning RPT skills into muscle memory. This book offers refreshing solutions to the shortcomings of our current model for product development; be prepared to toss out everything you know about a good vision and learn how to measure progress to create revolutionary products. The best part? You don't have to be a natural-born visionary to produce extraordinary results.

This practical book introduces readers to the essential business aspects of innovation and new product planning. The product planning process is discussed across two broad themes: product development and product management. Importantly, the book emphasizes the 21st-century strategic and creative mindset necessary to drive business innovation activities in a concise, yet comprehensive manner. The book delves into the front end of innovation and formal product development activities, examining the topics of opportunity identification, concept generation and evaluation, technical development, product design, testing, launch strategies, product management, life cycle management, brand management, and vital elements for international success. There are stand-alone notes that serve to apprise readers on related topics such as the use of agile product development methodologies, the formation of business entities, and recommended best practices for new product development. The book excels at providing relevant examples and applied tools that augment the concepts to offer valuable connections to real-world product planning efforts. This book is particularly useful as a guide to learning the fundamental concepts and strategies associated with innovation and new product planning. Among student audiences, upper-level undergraduate and first-year graduate students are likely to benefit as the book embraces its position to serve as a primer on product development and management.