NPD Process Gap Analysis: Comparing Model NPD Process with Company's NPD Process

Learning Outcomes:

1. NPD Process: Learn about the steps in NPD Stage-Gate® Processes, their use and implementation
2. Research Skills: Learn to carry out research on a management topic
3. Process Gap Analysis: What we are good at and what we are not good at
4. Critical Thinking Skills: Stakeholder Analysis & Change Management
5. Report Writing Skills: Structuring a report and using literature research to support argument and discussion
6. Literature Referencing Skills (Use Cite-it-Right Guidelines – Tutorial http://www3.ul.ie/referencing/)

Project Brief:

This assignment involves identification of the new product development steps taken by the company you work for and comparing it to the model NPD process described by Robert Cooper (See, in particular, the readings outlined above and unit 2 new peoduct development process in your course notes and carry out research using the online resources – link given above).

This is an NPD Process Gap Analysis whereby you identify:

(1) the steps that should be taken in an ideal model NPD process as defined by best practices
(2) what steps the company currently takes when developing new products
(3) the steps that the company does not do (i.e. find the gaps in the company NPD process). Support your work by doing further research of the published journals on the internet for extra reading materials and reference them appropriately in your text using the Cite-it-Right Guidelines.

The Report:

The report should be no more than 20 A4 pages (guideline number of pages outlined below) and have the following sections:

1. Title Page: Your name, Student ID Number, Module Code and Module Title, Report Title, Submission Date, Qualification that the module counts towards, Name of the University.
2. Executive Summary: Summarise what you did and your findings (Maximum ½ page)
3. The company History and its Product Range(s) (Maximum 1 page)
4. Project Background (Explain why you are carrying you this exercise in the company) (Maximum 1 page)
5. Steps involved in the Model NPD Process as described by Robert Cooper et al. (Explain each step in the process, how the gate system operates and how criteria are setup and used
for each stage of the process) (Maximum 4 pages)
6. Description of the company’s current NPD process (Maximum 4 pages)
7. NPD process steps that the company does not do at present (Include in your discussion, any reasons why your company does not use any particular steps or gates in their process)
(Maximum 4 pages)
8. Number list of recommendations for implementation of new NPD Process steps in the company (Include in your recommendations, any steps or methods/techniques that they
currently do not use that may help the company in terms of NPD) (Maximum 2 pages)
9. Stakeholder Analysis and Implementation Strategy (Change Plan) – Sometimes it is difficult to get personnel/management in a company to actively support change, especially in the area of work practices. Thus, explain how you would approach the implementation of the recommendations in this report – how would you plan/organise the changes. Describe who  would you approach (their role in the company), why you would approach them and what would you tell them to get their ‘buy-in’ to prepare for a smooth implementation of the recommendations (Maximum 4 pages)