A unified approach to technology management in new product development

Enterprises are successful only when they can deliver solutions to their customers' needs. This delivery occurs through a linked set of activities called the value chain or value network. Each time a new product or service is added to the enterprise porfolio, changes occur in the value network. Understanding, these changes is the first step in effective and efficient new product development. This paper presents a global view of new product development by describing a value network model based on technology and technology movement. The starting point is a comprehensive definition of technology as the capability to produce a result at a particular level of performance. This definition leads to such important concepts as technology ownership, technology portfolios, readiness, and performance validation. With these concepts in place, the discussion turns to the common processes that exist across the value network and how changes in one network activity affects other activities in a predictable way. By including the customer, or end user, in the network, the model shows how customer needs and requirements can be absorbed comprehensively into the planning for new product development.