Success drivers of new product development in knowledge-based companies

Introduction: Developing a new product in a rapidly changing competitive market is raised as a management strategy for the survival and growth of most companies. Developing a new product can create competitive advantage and new markets and ultimately increase the revenues and benefits for companies, which has become a necessity for manufacturing and industrial organizations due to the rapid advancement of technology, the increasing competition in global markets, and the increasing changes in customer needs. The process of developing a new product must respond positively to customer needs and create a proper competitive space for the organization. Developing a new product is one of the key strategies to gain a competitive advantage and maintain the organization’ growth.
Science and technology parks have been created as one of the components of national innovation systems and the infrastructures of knowledge-based economis to increase wealth in societies through encouraging and promoting the culture of innovation and increasing the power of competition among knowledge-based institutions and companies operating in the park. Science and technology parks are created through growth centers and reproductive processes and facilitate the growth of innovation-based companies in a knowledge-based economy where the production and exchange of knowledge are major factors in creating added value. Furthermore, science parks provide other value-added services, along with workspace and quality facilities, to the park’s institutions and transfer knowledge among the institutions that produce and consume knowledge. Generally, knowledge-based companies are a kind of mechanism for transferring technology from university to industry. They serve to commercialize new technologies with the results of research and development in universities. These companies can be precious because they strengthen economic sectors, grow faster than ordinary start-ups, and contribute more to economic and industrial changes in regions as well as the whole economic space around them compared to start-ups.
There are areas of imperative activity for any organization to achieve the targets it has set for ahead. They are known as critical success factors in the management literature and are considered as the integral components of an organization's success in achieving its targets. Managers of the companies located in the parks are not familiar with new product development. Hence, understanding the factors affecting the success of new product development is essential for these companies. The main question of this research is ‘what are the key factors affecting the success and development of a new product in science and technology parks?’
Methodology: The purpose of this research was to provide success-driving models of developing new products in small and medium manufacturing knowledge-based companies in Fars Science and Technology Park in 2018 using the meta-synthesis method. This method is applied to integrate several studies to achieve comprehensive and interpretive results. Meta-synthesis focuses on qualitative studies and refers to the translation of qualitative studies into each other and the researcher's deep understanding. In other words, meta-synthesis is a combination of the interpretations of the primary data in selected studies. It explores new and fundamental subjects and metaphors by providing a systematic attitude for researchers through combining different qualitative types of research. This method enhances the current knowledge and provides a comprehensive view of issues. Meta-synthesis requires the researcher to conduct a thorough and in-depth review and combine the findings of the relevant qualitative types of research. Sandelowski and Barroso's seven-step meta-synthesis method was used in this research. A total of 123 articles in the field of success in new product development were evaluated using the mentioned method, the corresponding dimensions and codes were extracted through the content analysis, and the importance and priority of each were determined using the Shannon quantitative entropy method.
Results and Discussion: The main achievement of this research is to present a model of success drivers to develop new products in knowledge-based companies, consisting of four main categories and 20 codes. These items are compiled using the meta-synthesis method. According to the results, focus on the uniqueness of the new product, attention to customer needs, creating value for the customer, indexing the company, using customer-based management systems, business strategies, learning spirit in all the members of the organization, and focus on advertising to introduce a new product to the market have the highest coefficients of importance. As the results showed, the most pivotal, effective and impressive factors can be identified in each of the quadruple dimensions, and their selected option can be used to improve performance. From a productive point of view, the most pivotal factor is human resource skills, the most effective factor is technological capability, and the most impressive factor is the amount of facility use. It is possible to increase the productivity of production facilities by improving the skills of human resources in the selected portfolio.
Conclusion: Knowledge-based companies focus on product delivery and strive to maintain and then enhance their position in the business market based on their long-term vision by adopting strategies. The strategies they emphasize for creating value for the customer are based on separate market observations and the capability for customer relationships. The use of this capability is based on directing internal processes. One of the strategies in this regard can be the provision of new products based on research and development and estimating market demand. The process of developing a new product imposes costs on the company. These costs include the cost of preliminary studies, design, and construction of prototypes, product introduction advertisements, etc. The need to pay attention to the success factors of new product development plays a vital role in conserving the company's resources and surviving in the market despite the limited financial resources in knowledge-based companies. Attention to the identified success factors in this study provides a clear view for planners, policymakers, decision-makers, managers, and activists in knowledge-based companies and helps them perform the best in the face of the business market.