Managing new product development within the SMEs

Abstract

Product innovation has transformed the minds of business people because of its ability to increase productivity. Other than increased productivity it also allows companies to extend the range of the available products to consumers as well as lowering the prices consumers have to pay. Product innovation if managed correctly will create wealth and reward risk-taking by means of technological development throughout organisational processes. SMEs fail to manage product innovation because they are unable to cope with pressures exerted by external factors as well as lack business management skills. This then impacts on the level of innovation that takes place in a company. A lack of innovation and sound leadership skills often leads to very little strategic vision in the company. This influences the commitment of the workforce and often causes the downfall of a company. Case study methodology was used to collect and analyze the data, which was drawn from an empirical study covering nine engineering companies which practices NPD (New Product Development). Observation, questionnaire and personal interviews were used to collect relevant data for analysis. In addition, the SPSS 14.0 was utilized in order to generate frequencies, tables, and in particular graphics, as the researcher believes that graphics are helpful and easy to make the analysis more understandable. The paper aims to investigate whether SMEEs in the Western Cape are using key NPD success factors to deal with the environmental uncertainties that disturb the management of NPD. The findings of the study indicated that the principles of key NPD success factors were found to be in place in the SMEEs in the Western Cape. All the managers who took part in the survey showed determination and commitment towards the success of their organizations. Those SMEEs proved that their existence was meant to satisfy the needs of their customers. Those managers also showed that they knew exactly what their customers needed. Employees in those organizations worked as a team and produced good quality products that satisfied their customers. Those organizations started small but grew with time as the needs of their customers continuously changed. The growth in those organizations was seen in the number of employees employed from time to time.