Consideration of Fundamental KPIs and Their Relationship with Environmental Protection in New Product Development Using Bayesian Network Analysis

Setting key performance indicators (KPIs) that influence key goal indicators (KGIs), such as sales, sales volume, market share, etc., in a new product development program of an enterprise is extremely important in management matters. Although there are many candidates for KPIs, no studies have explored the causal relationship between them and KGIs using a mathematical model. In this study, to reduce the complexity of a new product development program and to enable focus on appropriate management, the association between 5 KGIs and 32 KPIs was modeled through Bayesian network analysis based on 250 actual values. The results were further examined from the viewpoint of product development management. Five KPIs that seem to have a greater likelihood to influence KGIs were extracted as “fundamental KPIs”. In addition, we examined which KGIs will be affected by the product's contribution to the natural environment and society, which is one of the KPIs. Extracting the fundamental KPIs reflecting the actual situation more deeply and exploring the key points for their management is required. This is done by further narrowing down KGIs and KPIs based on the results and increasing the number of actual values. Furthermore, it is required to clarify specific management methods that can balance environmental protection and profits.