Convenor
Convenor's affiliation
Clio Dosi
University of Bologna
Co-convenors
Giacomo Marzi
Abstract
The world of New Product Development (NPD) is changing faster than ever. Managing NPD today means navigating deep uncertainty while experimenting with diverse approaches, tools, and logics of action. Organizations are mixing and matching stage-gate processes with design thinking and agile methods, while startups are pushed toward lean startup practices. Yet even as these approaches proliferate, none fully covers the entire journey—from the initial idea / concept creation to the establishment of a viable business.
At the same time, a new horizon is emerging. Many organizations are confronting a green imperative, where innovating responsibly requires blending scientific knowledge with the traditional knowledge. Innovation in these contexts means both exploring opportunities and preserving ecosystems, often simultaneously.
No single managerial model fits all the challenges on this expanding frontier.
This track invites scholars to explore the cutting edge of NPD and to rethink its foundations.
We encourage conceptual, empirical, and methodological contributions that push the boundaries of how NPD is understood and practiced. Join us in advancing a conversation that is not only theoretically rich, but increasingly essential for organizations navigating the future of innovation.
Description
In today’s uncertain business environment, managing NPD remains a core challenge. Rapid technological advances, shifting market demands, and competitive pressures require firms to implement adaptable NPD processes. This track welcome scholars and insights from innovation management, design theory, decision-making, and organizational dynamics to explore how organizations can manage uncertainty in their NPD processes. We seek contributions addressing the following key themes:
Hybrid NPD process models:
Traditional plan-driven processes, such as Stage-Gate, offer discipline and strategic oversight but often lack the flexibility required for NPD efforts in uncertain environments. Conversely, iterative approaches like Design Thinking, Agile and Lean Startup support experimentation but can lack governance structure. Hybrid models attempt to integrate the strengths of both paradigms (Cocchi, Dosi, and Vignoli 2023, 2021; Gomes et al. 2022; Cooper and Sommer 2018). The track invites contributions that shed light on the design, implementation, and contingencies of hybrid models. Key questions include:
• How can firms transition toward more adaptables hybrid NPD managerial processes?
• Under what conditions do hybrid NPD models work effectively?
• How do factors such as project complexity or technological newness influence the performance and suitability of hybrid approaches?
Contingency studies and NPD process selection:
In today’s uncertain environments, organizations manage NPD through a portfolio of co-existing process models (Cooper 2019). This co-existence, however, amplifies a central managerial challenge: identifying the most appropriate NPD process for a given project (MacCormack and Verganti 2003). Misalignment between the chosen process and the project environment remains a leading driver of failure (Bianchi, Marzi, and Guerini 2020). While contingency research has highlighted how contextual variables moderate performance, but organizations often struggle to translate this theoretical knowledge into decision-making (Cocchi et al. 2021; Carson, Wu, and Moore 2012). The track invites contributions that bridge this theory–practice gap by improving how understanding of how organizations can select and configure NPD processes. We particularly encourage work on diagnostic frameworks and decision-support tools that help managers assess project contingencies and translate them into actionable process choices.
• Under what conditions do specific approaches (e.g. Agile) improve NPD performance (speed, innovation, cost, quality)?
• What practices can support oorganizations in selecting and configuring NPD processes?
• What diagnostic frameworks and decision-support tools can help managers assessing project contingencies?
NPD processes crossing the green imperatives and techno-science:
Many organizations are confronting a green imperative (De Medeiros et al., 2014; Cillo et al., 2019), whereby responsible innovation requires a blend of scientific and traditional knowledge (e.g. using scientific knowledge to reduce plant emissions). This creates a unique tension: firms must integrate external scientific knowledge —often stemming from universities or research institutes (Schweitzer, Roeth, and Gillier 2020) —while managing the systemic constraints of the "green imperative”.
• What is genuinely new in “green” NPD?
• How do sustainability imperatives reshape NPD processes, with related practices and decision-making?
• How can NPD integrate scientific knowledge and traditional knowledge?
We welcome diverse theoretical frameworks that can inform the themes of the track, and different methodologies, such as quantitative, qualitative, action research and design science research, that can explore NPD processes under uncertainty. Overall, this track offers participants both a perspective and a supportive community for engaging in current debates on how firms can manage NPD processes under uncertainty.