Performance drivers in new product development

Despite being risky, cost intensive and complex, new product development (NPD) projects are essential to ensure long-term competitiveness. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify and explore NPD performance drivers from a practitioner’s perspective. Taking a systems model with 20 performance categories as a research guide, 25 qualitative expert interviews have been conducted to validate and adjust the set of performance drivers. The resulting systems model consists of 25 categories and 34 sub-categories. Quantitative results show that all categories derived from theory are important but differ in the degree of implementation.