New product development: salesforce and cycle time

Summary form only given as follows. The strongest predictors of new product success is understanding market requirements early in the new product development (NPD) process. A direct salesforce is one of the best sources of new product ideas and market information, although not fully leveraged in many firms. A recent study of 248 salespeople in nineteen high-tech firms indicates wide variation in NPD involvement across and within a firm's salesforce. The study revealed that at the organization level, the length of the NPD cycle was associated with salesforce-initiated and NPD-headquarters initiated activities. In particular, the longer a firm's NPD cycle for product improvements, the lower the involvement the salesforce has in headquarters initiated involvement activities. A significant relations,hip exists between a firm's new product cycle time and the level of involvement in salesforce-initiated NPD predevelopment activities. At the salesperson level, several factors affect involvement in NPD activities. Most significant was the relationship between salesperson involvement and the distance between a salesperson's location and the NPD office site. The study shows that organizations can affect the degree of involvement that their salesforce or individual salespeople have in early phases of NPD.